Avatar, Tunnel of Darkness
by BOBthieBomber
Summary: After an accident linked to spirit energy, Korra and her friends now found them selves in a unknown and hostile world. A world were humanity is fighting for its survival, both against monsters and them selves. However, there may be a light in this long dark tunnel ahead of them. Takes places after book 2 of LoK and two years after Redemption ending of Metro last light.
1. Chapter 1 Prologue

**I do not own Legend of Korra or the Metro game franchise. All rights go to their respective owners. **

Chapter 1 – Prologue

Asami was having a bad day. Thinks weren't just working out for her. She had just finished a border meeting with the executive directors of the company. She walked down the stairs in the office building where she have had the meeting and exited out on the street. She walked to her car and opened the door and sat down inside in the driver's seat. She sighed and put her head on the driver's wheel, almost hitting the horn. Ever since the event with the equalist and her father the company has gone downhill. However the now former businessman Varrick managed to save it from complete bankruptcy. But while he managed to save it from bankruptcy the aftershocks from her father's work was still in play. It would take years to repair the damaged done by her dad but she would not give up so easily. She took her head up from the driver's wheel and started the engine.

She drove out from the parking lot and out on to the street. She drove down the street thinking and recalling of what have transpired in last year so far. Her father working for the equalist, she meeting and befriending the avatar. Met a nice guy who would later dump her for the avatar to later dump her to later come back to her, it was a difficult relationship. She would later get involved in a plot to completely throw the world into full chaos but was there and helped to stop it. She kept thinking until she snapped back to reality and managed to avoid a giant spirit plant that covered most of the road. Ever sin the harmonic conversion the spirits of the spirit world had really started to settle down in the city and surrounding areas. She kept on driving until she had reached her destination, the docks she would later take a ferry towards air temple island that lay in the bay of the city. She walked on to the ferry and sat down at one of the many seats on it and smiled to herself. She was finally finished with all of her meetings and business trips and could finally take a vacation and she knows exactly which ones to spend it with. The trip took about a half hour but she arrived without any big complications. The island looked the same as it usually did. She walked up the many stairs from the docks of the island and entered the courtyard of the main temple of the island. She kept walking until she saw in the distance some familiar her faces, her friends.

"Hey guys." She yelled out. The others looked at her direction and smiled.

"Hey its Asmai, Hey Asmai." Bolin yelled out while waving his hand in Asmai direction like a maniac. Mako and Korra gave out similar greetings but not as extreme as Bolins. Asami smiled and walked up to her friends.

"It's so nice to see you all again." Asami said while giving Mako a hug. Korra couldn't help herself by giving a little frown because of this. Asami stopped the hug and looked towards the rest of her friends.

"How are you all doing?" She asked.

"All good here." Bolin said while scratching behind his head. Korra however looked a little sad. Asmai noticed this and she knew what problem was.

"Still no luck?" She asked.

"No" Was all Korra said. What Asami was referring to was what Unalaq bonded to Vaatu had done by destroying Raava, the one who made sure that the line of avatar would always go on. For all she knew, she could be the last avatar ever. Bolin tried to raise the mood in the group.

"Don't you Worry, Korra. You can still do all the things the avatar is supposed to do right…right?" Bolin said in hope that it would at least help someway. Korra couldn't help but to smile at Bolins antics. The group then started to walk towards the temple when they soon saw Tenzin walking towards them. He smiled towards them and said.

"Hello there young ones" He said while still walking towards them and stopped right infront of the group. He then looked towards Asamis and said.

"Asami, its good to see you again and welcome back." He said while bowing towards the young woman.

"Thank you, master Tenzin and it is good to be back." Asami said while also giving a bow in respect towards the airbender master. Tenzin smiled and then turned towards Korra.

"Young avatar Korra, I hope that you have had good progress with the spirits currently in the city." He asked the young avatar. Korra looked down on the ground in shame.

"Eh…not really." She said with a sheepish smile while feeling slightly embarrassed. Tenzin sighed and put his face in the palm of his hand.

"Korra, you do realize that these spirits must be dealt with. They are causing havoc all over the city because they and their human neighbors cannot come to terms with each other. And it doesn't help that chief beifong has been all over me about it. After Unalaq you are the only one who can make the spirits calm down." Tenzin finished. He then walked off towards the temple and entered one of the many doors. Korra watched Tenzin go before towards her friend.

"Well it seems that we must cut the reunion short. It still seems that I have work to do." She said with a sheepish smile. Her friends however smiled and Mako said.

"No worries, we can go with you. Help you if we can." He said while the two other nodded.

"Yeah, I mean. These spirit needs to be put in their place. They think that they own this town when they do not." Bolin said afterwards.

"We will always help you if you need help." Asami finished. Korra gave a big smile, she was so lucky to have such good friends.

* * *

"For the last time, I'm not moving" The angry koala spirit said, still gripping hard on the spirit tree that was growing out from the street and into the surrounding buildings. It has been hours since the group had left air Temple Island and have since then tried to remove the spirits that is currently occupying most of downtown.

"And I keep telling you that this isn't your home but someone's house that your tree is currently in." Bolin said towards the angry spirit, trying to help Korra move some of the spirits out from downtown.

"It's not my fault my tree suddenly appeared in the middle of the street." The Koala argued back. While the two were at it Korra tried time after time to remove the spirit trees with the unique waterbending tactic that she learned from Unalaq before he was exposed as the man who tried to destroy the world as the dark avatar. She tried time after time to remove the trees but every time she managed to do it they just moved back to where they were before. Korra let out a irritated groan and tried one more time with the same result.

"Gah, this isn't working. Whatever I do they just move back to where they were before." Korra said and stomped once on the ground in frustration. Asami put her hands on Korras shoulder.

"It's okay Korra." She said. "You will get it eventually." Korra looked at her friend and smiled. She was about to try again when a police car rolled up next to the avatar and a familiar face stepped out.

"Korra, I want to speak to you." Lin said towards the avatar. Korra groaned again and walked up towards the irritated chief of police.

"What is it Lin?" She asked, like she didn't know what it was all about. Lin glared at the young avatar and said.

"You know what it is. These spirits and their trees and what not is causing havoc all over town and my officers are working double time trying to get some sense of peace on the streets." Lin said with a angry frown, just like always.

"And here I was told you had the power to help remove these spirits but so far I have seen no big progress in that. I am starting to wonder that if you have what it takes at all" She finished. Korra glared at her hard and Lin glared back just as hard. They both seemed to ignore everything around them and just kept on staring at each other. Asami backed away a little in fear of what would happen next. Finally Korra decided to speak.

"You want to see result, fine." She said and stomped towards the same tree she had tried to move earlier except this time she was determined to make id move away. She started using the same tactic before except this time she put in a lot more effort into it. She started sweating but kept on going, the water going faster around the spot. It started to take effect on the tree but it seemed like it was starting to crack, white light starting ti sip out. Bolin and the koala had now stopped arguing with each other and stared towards the avatar.

"Now then I think of it maybe it is time to move." The Koala said with a fearful tone before letting go of the tree and started to run away in the opposite direction. Bolin stared with a puzzled look that asked what just happened when suddenly the spirit tree started to glow even brighter. But Korra was determent to move the tree and kept going.

"Uh, Korra. Maybe you should stop" Mako said to the avatar.

"No, I will move it." Korra said with while still going on when suddenly the tree somewhat exploded. Pieces of the tree went everywhere but the light was still there and was almost blinding all of them.

"You fool, you ignorant fool." They could suddenly hear someone yell behind them. They looked back and saw the Koala stand far away from where he "used" to live.

"You don't know what happens when you destroy a spirit tree. It has drastic consequences. It can cause permanent wheatear changes, sink continents or…" Suddenly everyone started to feel something sucking them towards where the tree was. When they looked towards it they saw a portal had opened up and was giving out a strong sucking vortex.

"…or open up a portal to places unknown. Well it has been nice staying around but I have to go know." The Koala finished and ran away. Now every human around started to feel like the sucking started to increase until it started to lift them of the ground. Korra started to panic and tried to grab on to something. She wasn't able to and started to fly towards the portal until she felt a strong hand grabbing her hand. She looked at the person who held on to her and saw that it was no other and Lin. She had shoot out a cable that had stuck to one of the building. Korra made a mental note to herself to thank her until she heard someone screaming. She saw Asami coming towards them and Korra stretched out her hand to catch her friend. Asami managed to grab on to it but it tugged them good that Lin almost lost her grip.

"Hold on Asami." Korra said to Asami who held on to dear life.

"AHHHH, Catch me." They suddenly heard someone scream. They looked towards the source of the sound and saw Bolin as well as Mako coming towards them. Asami held out her hand and Mako managed to catch it while Bolin managed to grab on to one of Asamis legs. Korra looked at her friends and sighed a relief when she saw that they managed to grab on but then she felt that Lin started to lose her grip on Korras hand. Korra looked at Lin who tried her best to hold on.

"Hold on Korra." Lin said between gritted teeth but it was useless. She lost her grip and the avatar and her friends were sucked into the portal. Afterwards the portal seemed to collapse on its self and was itself sucked in until in disappeared from existence. Lin fell to the ground and looked towards were the portal had been. She looked franticly around but it was no use.

Team avatar was gone.

She groaned and wondered how she was supposed to tell this to Tenzin.

* * *

The tunnel was long and dark…like all the others he had walked. A single person walked along the tunnel. Weapon held stern in his hand. This man whore a strange body suit with a bulletproof vest on his chest and a helmet that had pair of night vision googles strapped to it. A large backpack was on his back and another weapon was hanging alongside it. On his hip there was another weapon holstered but smaller than the others. On his face and under the helmet he wore a gasmask that was a little cracked but so far it could still be used. Many would deem it insane to travel alone through any tunnel but this man was not like any other. This man had walked almost every tunnel, visited every station. Had fought the most fearsome and powerful of all mutant creatures but had always come out on top. He have fought armies alone and won battle after battle. The most powerful warriors in the tunnels respected and feared him. Who is he?

He is Artyom, savior of the metro.

And he was currently on a scouting mission.

You would think that someone of his status would get something more exiting but no here he was, sent all the way to some of the furthest station to check for supplies for the ranger order. He was currently leaving the station by the name of Voykovskaya that was located far out on the second line that has been abandoned for some time now and was now heading towards the station Belorusskaya which was populated. There he would travel through Hansa stations until he reached his home, Exhibition where his Wife and son waited for his return. Why he was here in the first place you ask? The rangers, or what is left of the rebuilding order that had suffered enormous casualties at the Battle of D6 two years ago, had heard that the stations in the direction of Voykovskaya had been close to old military convoys with large stockpiles of supplies were trying to get out of the city before the bombs hit. So far this trip has been nothing but a waste of his time. He has so far only encountered mutants and other things and when going up to the surface to check it out he found no convoy what so ever and those military vehicles he found had been scavenged since long. The mutant attacks encountered so far have been surprisingly low which he preferred. A couple of Lurkers and one lonely Nosalises here and there which were probably scouts which meant that their friends could be either close or far away. Either way, he had to hurry, one or two he could easily dispatch but a hundred on the same time was a little too much even for him.

While walking through the tunnel he looked down on his weapon in his hand. Each of his weapons had a history and had played an important role in his travels throughout the metro. His first weapon that he was holding in his hands was a standard AK 74M assault rifle but was more commonly known in the metro as the Kalash, uses the commonly found 5:45 caliber rounds and the more rare and expensive Military Grade Rounds. While many would prefer the Kalash 2012 he liked this one instead thanks to its slow rate of fire and higher knockback then the more modern version. After he was captured by the Nazis he managed to get it back when he escaped their concentration camp. He had a couple of attachments on the weapon. Amongst them were a laser sight, a scope and last an extended magazine that was capable of holding up to 46 bullets. This Kalash were the same one that he took from Bourbons backpack after he was captured by the bandits at dry station and he had used it ever since then. Bourbon, he remembered that guy alright, a man with more enemies than friends. That wherever he went more trouble seemed to follow and soon get him. A man who gave his life to save his, you don't get that often in the metro. He thought he was dead until two years ago when in the station now known as Venice he heard a couple of bandits talk about dry station and what have happened there. That everyone was wiped out…except for one. He managed to listen closely and heard that the one who managed to escape the onslaught caused by him were no other than Bourbon who had cheated death back then. Artyom couldn't help but smiling a little when he heard those news. So that son of a bitch was still alive back then but now who knows.

On his back was his other weapon of choice, the Saiga. With the discovery of D6 a lot of new weapons so far unknown to the metro was found and no one was more welcomed then the Saiga. An automatic shotgun that uses 12G shotgun shells and have the same force and fire rate as the heavy version but with a less complicated reload made it a lot simpler to use. As well with the Kalash it wore attachments as well. It had a so called drummagazine which doubled the ammo and a laser sight as well. This particular gun he managed to acquire from the ranger base known as Sparta on the surface. An old abandoned church that had been fortified into a bunker and with clean air to breathe in. he had bought this shotgun from one of the merchants that were resting there before they were all killed by that traitor Lesnitsky and his goons. Lesnitsky, a red spy who had managed to infiltrate the ranger order and was the one responsible for wiping out Oktyabrskaya with a biochemical weapon. Lesnitsky and he had confronted each other at the depot and he had the chance to end him right there and then but didn't. Even to this day Artyom keeps asking himself. Did he do the right thing? Did Lesnitsky deserve to live or was it a mistake to spare his miserable life. In the end, it doesn't matter. The reds were defeated at D6 thanks to the little dark one and his kin. Maybe that was the reason all along why he didn't finish Lesnitsky of. To prove that humans aren't always bloodthirsty. That killing…is the worse crime of them all.

The last of his weapons were his trusty revolver. A powerful .44 magnum pistol. Able to take down most threats with ease but kicks like a mule when it's fired. It has only one attachment which happens to be nothing more than a simple silencer. This gun like the rest has a history. It was given to him by Pavel when they escaped the Reich concentration camp together. Pavel, a good friend and a trusty companion but also a loyal red soldier and a backstabber. Even though he betrayed him at Teatralnaya also known as Theatre and then chased him throughout all of the metro and through the hostile environment of dead Moscow he could not find himself hating him in the end. When the little dark one open Pavels mind for him he saw the truth. That even he regretted what he had done. There were no anger, no pride, and no happiness…only sadness inside Pavel. To this day he wondered why he was sad. Was it because Artyom did not join him and the red line when he had the chance. Was it that he felt that he had betrayed their friendship or was there some other reason? In the end Artyom could not kill him. He left Pavel at the red square and has not seen him since then. He wondered if he went back to the red line or if he just disappeared from the face of the earth. Artyom was certain that the red line would not survive after the battle of D6 but miraculously like a phoenix rising from the ashes it survived and managed to rebuild itself but alas only a shadow if its former glory. And even though they barely survived they would still pick a fight with the Nazis. The Nazis, after D6 many would fear that the Reich would try the chance to conquer the metro but they did not. Probably because they didn't have the manpower for such a thing.

Artyom shook his head and stared in to the tunnel in front of him. He would soon reach the station Sokol and then there was a couple more station until he would reach Belorusskaya. However though, he had to be careful. This tunnel harbored more than just mutants.

* * *

Asami stirred. She felt something sniffing on her. She tried to open her eyes but they were heavy but she managed. She looked at what was sniffing at her and her eyes went wide. There was the ugliest thing she has ever seen. A hairless creature with a chinny mouth that were pointed upwards and the mouth was filled with razor-sharp teeth. It was a little bigger than a fire ferret but still terrifying up close. Asami did what any would do if they saw something like that so close, she screamed. The thing screeched back and ran away.

"AH, what's happening?" She heard someone say behind her and she looked towards the source of the voice. It was hard to see in the dark but thanks to a fire close by she could see at least a little. She could see three figures in the weak light and she could make out which had said something.

"Bolin?" She said. Bolin looked at her and smiled.

"Asami." He said and ran up to her and gave her a platypusbear hug. She found it hard to breathe and Bolin noticed this and smiled sheepishly. He released her and they heard someone else stir.

"Huh what happened?" They heard and saw Mako getting up from the ground. They also saw Korra waking up as well. Korra looked around and saw her friends and they were okay.

"Guys, are you okay?" She asked. Bolin responded.

"We're okay Korra but I wonder. Where are we?" She asked and all of them looked around. They seemed to be at would be described as a big hallway with a platform in the middle and with a tunnel on each side of it. The platform had a single row of pillars that held up the roof which in turn had giant holes in it. The tunnels seemed to have what looked like train tracks on them. They looked to the each end of platform and saw stairways that went upwards but they were blocked with ruble and other debris. In turn the platform was littered with debris and the roof looked like it was about to fall.

"What is this, some kind of old temple?" Mako wondered. They all kept looking around trying to figure out where they were without noticing that someone was watching and listening from the darkness.

* * *

Artyom had arrived to Sokol station about a minute ago after he heard someone scream. he had sat up camp there earlier that day which explained the still burning fire however when he arrived he did not expect to see a bunch of kids at the station. He was currently hiding behind one of the pillars that were all over the platform on the station. He carefully studied the kids. They looked confused and looked around at the station like they had never seen one before. There was also another strange thing about them, their clothes. Two of them seemed to dress in the same clothing but with different colors, one in green and was a little chubby and the other in red but was long and lean. Their clothes seemed to look on the same time old fashioned but also brand new in comparison you can scavenge in the metro. Another was a beautiful young woman dressed in what could be assumed as a fancy black and red suit and like the other seemed brand new but also unlike any other seen in the metro. The last was also a young woman and she wore what seemed to look like animal hides and blue pants. He snuck closer and listened in of what they were saying. He had to be careful, for all he knew they could be young bandits but he couldn't see any weapons around.

"Okay, does anyone have at least any idea of where we are?" The cubby one asked the others. The long one looked around and noticed the signs that were that were located close at one of the stairways. He walked up to them and looked at them. He looked like he had trouble reading them which were odd. Everyone in the metro could at least read simple things like station names and such. Such a thing was vital if you wanted to survive in the metro.

"I don't know. I can't understand what these signs are saying. I don't even think those are actually letters to begin with." Now Artyom was confused of what they were saying. Had they never seen the alphabet before? He snuck closer and hid behind one of the pillars closest to them. What he saw next really surprised him. The long one stretched out is hand and a flame started to erupt in it. He walked to the end of the platform and tried looking in at of the tunnels. Artyom couldn't help gasping when he saw it and immediately covered up his mouth with his hands but the damaged were done. The kids looked at his direction and the one dressed in blue said.

"What was that?" Artyom cursed to himself and tried to figure out a way out of this.

* * *

The group had tried to figure out where they were when they suddenly heard something. Someone gasp, was someone spying on them. Korra and Mako walked up to the pillar were they had heard it with their hands out to make sure they were ready. Asami followed close by and Bolin was all the way in the back of the group. They walked to the other side of the pillar but found nothing.

"Huh, probably was just a ratbat or something." Korra said. Mako looked at the side and could swear he saw something move in the darkness past them.

"Who's there?" Make screamed into the darkness while emitting a large flame in his hand. He walked up to the spot where he saw the dark figure move but once again found nothing. The looked around until they heard something was unsheathed behind them. They immediately turned towards the noise with their hands at the ready and saw a man that wore the strangest clothing they had ever seen but that wasn't important at the time. What really had their attention was that this man was holding a knife at Bolins throat. They readied themselves and had their hands aimed at the mysterious man but they were surprised when the man spoke.

"Don't move any closer or he gets it." The man said in a heavy accent they had never heard before while taking his knife closer to a very nervous looking Bolins throat.

**AN: I first thought about making Artyom and the rest of the metro speak Russian and team avatar spoke English but in the end I couldn't make it work with the rest of the story so if any criticism comes up because of that in the reviews you have just read the reason why. Hope you like the story, please leave a review or a favorite. **


	2. Chapter 2 An unusual encounter

Chapter 2 – An unusual encounter

Artyom stared the teens down and they seemed to have gotten the message. They backed away slowly and put their hands down. Even though they had put them down Artyom did not drop his guard and still had the knife at the chubby ones throat. It was a close one that they would have spotted him and in a frontal assault would be idiotic. Even though they seemed unarmed the long ones ability to create fire just like that put him on edge. Luckily Artyom had years of experience in sneaking past his enemies and it had been a piece of cake to leave his position behind the pillar and sneak behind the group and take the chubby one hostage.

"Who are you?" The woman dressed in blue asked. Artyom looked at her and he could swear she backed away a little from his glance.

"I'm asking the questions here." He said, wearing a neutral face while putting the knife on the chubby ones chin but not hard enough to cause a wound. The teens seemed to tense up again but they let it go. The guy dressed in red said.

"What do you want to know?" Artyom look at the teens and then said.

"Who are you and what are you doing all the way out here?" He asked. They looked at each other and the woman in blue then stepped forward and said.

"I am avatar Korra and these are my friends Mako," She gestured to the guy in red. "Asami," She gestured to the woman in black and red." And the one that you are holding is Bolin." Korra said the last part with venom in her voice.

"P-p-p-pleasure to make your acquaintance sir." The one called Bolin said nervously in Artyoms grip.

"Shut up." Artyom said in a cold tone without taking his eyes of the blue one now known as Korra which made Bolin shut up instantly.

"And for what we are doing here we don't know. We were in Republic city the last minute and then we woke up here." She finished. Artyom looked at her coldly but unknowns to them he was in deep thought. Okay now he knew their names and he believed them when they said they didn't know how they ended up here. Must have gotten in a fight with bandits and then drugged and or knocked out and ended up here. They do that kind of stuff. He had experience with that in the past but what was this Republic city they were talking about. He couldn't recall a place like that in the metro. There was one thing that Artyom did still not understand, what the hell did they mean with avatar? And how did the one called Mako still do that with the fire and his hand.

"I got more questions" He said. Korra looked at him coldly but nodded. Artyom continued to wear a neutral face

"My questions are what the hell do you mean with "the avatar" and how did that guy start a flame in his hand?" Artyom said while referring to Mako. The teens looked at each other in confusion, even Bolin looked confused and then they looked back at him.

"Are you kidding?" Korra said. Artyoms face gave her the answer. "You have never heard of the avatar before and you don't know what bending is?" She said. Artyom shock his head and responded.

"Should I? And what is this bending you mentioned." Were Artyoms answer. Now Korra looked like she would explode.

"Of course you should. I mean how can one not know who the avatar is and don't know what bending is. Everyone knows about bending, it is common knowledge." She practically screamed the last part. Artyom just stood there except this time he wore a face of confusion and surprise. Why did she lash out on him like that? Sure he holds one of her friends hostage but still he asked a question. Korra seemed to calm down after she realized what she had just done. She smiled sheepishly and said a quiet "Sorry". Artyom just kept on staring at her before saying.

"Okay, you didn't have to lash out on me like that I was just asking a friendly question." He said with a smug smile.

"There is nothing friendly of what you are doing with my brother." Mako said with venom in his voice but Artyom kept his cool.

"This is insurance to make sure you don't attack me out in cold blood. You can't be too careful about that in the metro." He said while referring to the still nervous Bolin in his grip. The teens looked at each other and then the one known as Asami said.

"Is there were we are, in this so called metro?" She asked. Artyom still looked like he was cool but in the inside he had exploded.

"What the hell do they mean about that? Have they lived under a rock in their entire life?" He thought to himself. Mako finally lost his cool and decided to speed things up.

"Look this is getting us nowhere. Now give back my brother and I may consider not beating you up to much." Mako said while letting a large flame erupt from each of his hands in threat against the tunnel wanderer.

"Uh, Mako. Maybe you shouldn't doing stuff like that when my life his on the line." Bolin said while sweat started to erupt on his forehead while it felt like the knife was getting closer to his chins breaking point. Artyom stared right into the eyes of the enraged teen and Mako stared right back. None of them would break eye contact until Artyom saw movement behind the teens. He could easily make out the figure of the creature behind them.

Nosalis

"Get down." Artyom suddenly yelled while throwing Bolin to the side and threw his knife in Makos direction. Mako barely jumped to the side and the knife narrowly missed him but struck its target behind him. A roar could be heard behind them and something large falling down on the ground. The teens quickly turned around and wondered what just had happened when they got a good look at the creature. The gasped in surprise while Artyom just walked up to the Nosalis. He had struck exactly where he aimed, right in the throat of the monster which killed it instantly. He bended down and ripped the knife out of the creature and then stood up. Mako took this opportunity to take some revenge on him for almost killing his brother and swung a fist engulfed in fire towards the ranger who had his back at him. Mako thought it would hit home but Artyom was faster. He dodged it with ease and turned around and delivered himself an uppercut on Mako who flew through the air and then fell on the ground with a thud. Mako groaned and looked up only to stare into a barrel. Artyom had taken out his revolver as quick as he could and now aimed down on the dizzy firebender.

"One move and your brain go splat." He said while staring the teen down. Mako didn't know what it was he was holding but complied. The others just stared at what had just happened. Artyom noticed Makos confusion and said.

"Never seen a gun before?" He asked the firebender who looked at him in confusion.

"The thing I'm holding." Artyom added. Mako nodded and Artyom said.

"It's a device that shoots projectiles at supersonic speeds that easily tear through humans flesh and bone." Artyom said while still had his revolver aimed at Mako who now understood the seriousness of the situation. He raised his air in the air in defeat. Artyom stared down on the teen before smiling. He gave a short laugh before holstering his pistol. Mako stared once again in confusion before seeing Artyom stretch his hand down to him. Mako took it and Artyom helped him up.

"Did you really think I would kill a teen?" Artyom said with a amused smile. "It's not what I do. I just wanted to see what you guys were capable of." He said while giving Mako a friendly pad on the back which made him almost lose his balance. Then in an instant Artyom got serious again and said.

"I had to be certain that you guy were a threat or not. And now I have got my answer. I now see that you are just a bunch of lost kids." He said with a smug smile.

"Hey, we're not kids." Korra said irritated to him but Artyom ignored her. He looked towards the dead Nosalis and the others did the same.

"Nosalises rarely hunt alone." He said while the teens got confused by its name. "This one was just a scout which means that its friends could either be close or far away. Either way, we can't take such a chance so I will give you guys a choice. Stay here and wonder what is going on and probably get ripped to shreds or come with me and I take you to the nearest populated station. Either way, it's your choice." Artyom finished. The teens looked at each other and noticed that Artyom had stated walking towards the tunnel. They weighted their options before Korra spoke.

"I guess we don't have a choice." Korra said and sprinted to keep up with the metro dweller. The others hesitated, especially Mako and Bolin but when they saw Asami sprint after they complied as well. Artyom kept on walking in a normal speed when he noticed this and smiled.

"Wise choice." He said to them while the teens wondered what kind of mess they have gotten themselves in now.

**AN: Second chapter is up. If there is any criticism or something else please write them in the reviews. **


	3. Chapter 3 Lost tunnel

Chapter 3 – Lost tunnel

Korra don't know if it was the right choice to follow this strange man. But after seeing that thing and hearing his warning they didn't have much of a choice. They didn't even know where they were and this stranger were so far the only one able to tell them but that still didn't feel like the best choice. They didn't even know his name, which reminded her.

"Hey, we told you our names but what is yours?" She asked the stranger who now had stopped and looked into the tunnel before them but he didn't answer her question but instead he looked like he was concentrating.

"Hey, I asked you a qu…" Korra couldn't finish because the strangers covered her mouth with his hand. The others tensed up towards this action but relaxed a little when the stranger put his finger on his mouth and said.

"Shhhhh" The stranger said while still concentrating on whatever he was trying to find. He then walked to the side of the tunnel to one of the many pipes that ran on the walls and put his ear on one of them. He stood like that for a few seconds before saying.

"They know we are here." He said. The others could not be any more confused than they were now. What did he mean with "they"? The stranger ignored their confused stares and walked slowly through the tunnel with his flashlight on but noticed it started to flicker. He took out a strange device with a lever on and started pumping. The flashlight stopped flicker and return to bright fully. He then put the device away and took out one of his many so called "Guns". They followed him when he suddenly stopped and turned towards them.

"Listen carefully now. You must do whatever I'm telling you now or else…" He looked unsure of how to finish what he was going to say.

"Let's just say that I won't be able to help you if you don't listen." He finished and then turned forward again. The gang could not understand what he meant until a sound was heard further into the tunnel. The sound made the blood freeze up. The sound sounded like to be a mix of child laughter and terrified screams. It went on for five seconds before everything went absolutely quiet again.

"What was that?" Asked a terrified Asami that held on to a surprised Mako. The stranger didn't look at any of them but kept staring into the tunnel before saying.

"That was them." He said as he kept on walking slowly.

"Stay behind me at all times. If I tell you to stop you stop. If I tell you otherwise you follow my orders, got it." He told the teens without looking at them. He just kept staring into the tunnel. He then suddenly stopped and said.

"And for your question before Korra…My name is Artyom." He just then continued on like that with a slow pace. Korra couldn't help but to smile a little now when they finally knew the strangers name even if it was a very weird name by their standards. They continued on for about a minute before Korra suddenly felt a small headache coming up. She put one of her hands on her temple and breathed out. Artyom however noticed this and said.

"You can feel them. That is a rare gift." He kept on walking but now Bolin couldn't help but ask.

"Okay I know that I should not probably talk right now but I must ask. Who are "them"?" He asked Artyom but he didn't answer. Instead he stopped and pointed onwards. The others were confused by this action but looked on what he was pointing at. They all gasped and backed away a little on fear. There stood a shadow of a man but there was no one in front of the shadow. The shadow just looked at what they assumed was in their direction and it seemed to hold something identical of what Artyom was holding, one of these so called "Guns". They all stared in fear when Artyom said.

"The dead lingers here." This earned even more confused stares from his followers. Artyom just kept staring at the ghost and it stared back. Artyom then walked up to the ghost and stopped about a meter from it. The others stayed close behind Artyom, wondering what he was going to do. Artyom then put his hands together and said.

"Ut ad iter pergere ducimus." He said to the shadow. The shadow just kept on staring at them but then moved to the side without a sound. Artyom walked past and said

"Gratias tibi." The others stayed close to Artyom and walked past the shadow looking at it the whole time while the shadow followed them with what they assumed were his eyes. When they had all pass the shadow there was a slight flash which surprised the teens. They looked back were the shadow stood before but found nothing there now.

"Okay that isn't creepy at all." Bolin said in a sarcastic tone. Korra walked up to Artyom who still kept a slow pace and asked.

"What was that?" Artyom stopped and thought about what to tell. He then turned around and looked at her and said.

"I don't know his name but I do know what his mission was. These stations weren't always abandoned. They were once filled with people trying to just live their lives. Building up small societies filled with families and workers, stores and homes but that didn't last long. Soon they were overrun by monsters and mutants. The citizens of these stations fled and soldiers stayed behind trying to hold them of." He looked at were the shadow had stood and continued on with the tale.

"He volunteered as one of the last fighters to hold them of as long as he could…he failed and so many died. Still haunted by the guilt and still loyal to his station and his family he still stands guard. Not letting anything pass by without his permission." He said the last thing with sadness. He then turned towards the direction they have been walking and said.

"This tunnel is filled with the souls of the victims of the evacuation so be prepared for more" He then continued on without another word. The teens looked at him and then were the shadow had been and then back at Artyom. They followed him until he stopped. He pointed onwards and said.

"Concentrate." And then before them they saw another shadow. This shadow was different though. It seemed to be that of a woman. The shadow then sprinted to the side like it was attacked and they heard a woman scream then the shadow disappeared. They looked at were the shadow disappeared and saw a skeleton on the ground. They immediately made the connection and backed away once again in fear. Artyom walked past the skeleton without looking at it and the teens kept on following close by behind him. They walked past more shadows that showed more peoples fates and each and every one was scarier than the other. More skeletons lingered the floor that each shoved the final fates of the shadows. Some shadows didn't show what attacked them and some showed some weird looking creatures shadows attacking the shadows of the humans. Each time a small headache erupted in Korra's head but nothing she couldn't handle. They had walked for a little while now until Mako spoke up.

"Is it ever going to end?" Mako asked Artyom. Artyom didn't answer but just looked in front of him. He then stopped and they knew what that meant. They expected to see another adult shadow but this time it was that of a small boy.

"Mommy?" They heard the boy shadow suddenly say. It then started to walk towards their direction while franticly looking around.

"Mommy?" It said again but this time another shadow joined in behind it. The teens recognized the shadow of the creature back at the station that almost killed Mako, a Nosalis as Artyom called it. The creature then started to sprint towards the child and the boy then started to run in fear.

"MOMMY!" It screamed one last time before the shadows disappeared. Asami couldn't take it anymore. She started to shed a few tears while Bolin started to cry openly. Korra and Mako looked on terrified while Artyom once again stood there with an emotionless face on him.

"Let's keep going, we will soon reach a station were we will take the maintenance route and once in the maintenance room we can set up camp. Don't you worry; we will soon be out of this tunnel. Just keep staying close to me and we will make it." The teens didn't need to be told twice. They raced after Artyom and stayed close by. Soon they saw something in the distance, a light.

"It is not far to Dinamo station now but be prepared. I don't know if they will be there or not." Artyom said while he kept walking. The others once again tensed up in fear of seeing more shadows. The where now near Dinamo station when they suddenly heard voices from the stations direction.

"That was a close one but I'm glad that we made it out of it alive." One voice said.

"Indeed. It was a close one but we made it." Another voice said.

They now arrived at the station and they saw that around a fire two strangers sat and talked to each other. They couldn't see their faces because they had their backs turned at them.

"Hey, there are some humans, alive as well. Finally we are out of there." Bolin said while he was about to walk up to the two strangers but was stopped by Artyom. Artyom then gave him a serious look and said.

"Don't talk to them, don't even make eye contact with them. Just ignore them and keep on walking." He said while he walked past the two strangers. The two strangers just kept talking on talking without noticing the group. The teens followed close to Artyom confused once again when Korra suddenly felt a massive headache erupt. She fell down on her knees and grasped her head with both her hands.

"Korra." Mako said worried.

"AHHHHHH" Korra screamed out in pain. Artyom turned around and looked at the Avatar. He noticed that she was starting too bled out of her noose. Artyom then looked at the two strangers and then back at the group of teens.

"We need to get out of here now." He said while picking up the bleeding Avatar and carried her towards one of the door of the maintenance room, the other teens followed close behind him. He kicked the door open and sprinted in. the group followed but before Asami could enter she looked back at the two Strangers who still sat there and she could hear one of them say.

"It is good to be alive." He said before he and his companion turned and looked at her. She gasped when she saw their faces. Their eyes were completely white and their faces were covered in blood. She screamed and slammed the door behind her when she was in the room with the others. She leaned at the door and breathed heavily. She looked at the others and saw that that they stared at her in confusion except for Artyom who knew what she saw. Asami then looked around the room and took in the details of it. It was a small room with a couple of mattresses on the floor and a table in the middle. There was an oil lamp on it and there were as well a couple of lockers on the side of the walls that was closed. There were also a couple of boxes with unknown content in them. She breathed heavily and put her face in the palm of her hands.

"I can't take any more of this." She said while her face was still buried in her hands she fell on her knees. Artyom looked at her and walked over to her. He noticed that tears started to stream down on her face. Artyom bend down to her level and hugged her. This action got a surprised look from everyone, especially Asami.

"SHHHH, it's okay. They get to everyone. The first time I saw them I got a…similar reaction." He said in a comforting tone, really different from the emotionless tone he has been using almost the entire time. Asami looked at him, still with tears in her eyes and then hugged back. When she was younger she was thought to be daddy's little defenseless girl but she have always been though and always found a way out of a situation. She had never really needed a guardian to look after her. But this time she didn't know what to do. She now felt like the little defenseless little girl that she was called when she was smaller. But this man, Artyom, felt safe. He felt like a real guardian that would defend her till the very end. Asami calmed down and the tears stopped coming. They broke the hug and Artyom stood up again.

"Now when that is taken care of." He looked around the room at the others.

"I would really like some explanations about all of you. Start with; how the hell did you guys end up all the way out there?" Korra picked herself up from the floor. The headache had now disappeared. Korra looked at Artyom and glared.

"Hey, we want some explanations as well. Who are you and what is this place?" Korra demanded to know from the taller man. Artyom stared down at her and she stared right back up at him. Artyom kept on staring until he smiled and started to laugh. Korra looked on confused until Artyom spoke.

"I like you, you're though and I respect that. Very well, let's make a deal, shall we" He said which earned even more confused stares from the teens.

"How about you tell me now everything I want to know and as soon as we reach Belorusskaya I tell YOU everything you want to know. How does that sound to you?" He said while looking down on Korra. Korra thought of it before saying.

"Before I give you my answer, what is this uhm…Belorusskaya place?" She asked while having trouble pronouncing the name correctly. Artyom mentally slapped himself for not mentioning it earlier. He sighed and said.

"It's the place that we are currently heading towards. It's a populated station were we can be safe from the mutants and monsters that roam the tunnels. To go there we must cross the surface and there every step you take could be your last. We will reach the surface through that door" He finished while pointing at the door located in the opposite direction of the other door that they entered through and then looked at his watch.

"It is still nighttime up there so going up to the surface now would be suicide so we have a lot of time to spend down here until dawn." He said while sitting down on a chair that were located in the room and looked at the teens.

"So start explaining, who you guys are and what are you doing here and how do you do that stuff with fire and what not?" He said while giving them a glare that said that he was serious. Korra looked at her friends and sighed.

"Okay, I will tell you but you must promise us that you will tell us everything we want to know as soon as we reach this station." She said to the metro dweller.

"Of course, ranger's word. I stand by it till the day I die. And yes, that means that I'm going to tell you everything you want to know." Artyom finished. Korra sighed and began explaining.

"Okay, as you know my name is Korra and my friends names are Bolin Asami and Mako and we are called team avatar where we are from and there is also something known as bending as well…"

* * *

"…and then a portal opened up and we were sucked into it and then we woke up on that station and then you found us." Korra finished her story. Artyom just sat there with a neutral face but his mind was working overtime. Everything he had just heard just sounded so ridiculous and weird. An entire world populated by humans, untouched by war at the time. People with strange abilities able to bend the elements to their will, if he hadn't seen it all by himself. The abilities from these teens, the fact that they were so far away from any populated station without knowing how they got there and so on and last, he was a man who had learned over the years to see if someone was lying but when he listened on to Korra's entire story he just knew that the story was just to detailed to be made up. He sat there quiet for a few moments until.

"I believe you." Was all he said. Korra let out a sigh that he actually believed them

"You story is interesting and correct me now if I'm wrong. So from your world you are what is called "the Avatar" who is able to manipulate or "bend" all the elements." He said while pointing at Korra. Korra nodded. He then looked at Mako and Bolin.

"You two are so called "regular" benders that are able to bend one element and Mako can bend fire while Bolin can bend the earth itself." He said to the two brothers and both nodded. He then looked at Asami.

"And you are what is called a nonbender that are not able to bend any elements at all." He said and just like the others Asami nodded. Artyom laughed a little and said.

"Well, on this world you would be considered normal. We don't have bending to rely on. Instead we developed advanced technology but in the end it seemed like it would be our undoing." He said the last thing with sadness. The others looked at one another when Mako spoke up.

"What do you mean by that?" He said. Artyom looked at the ground and said.

"You will see soon enough when we will go up on the surface. There are still a couple of hours until we can go up. Try to get some rest in the meantime." He said while he looked away. The others looked at each other but did as they were told. They lay down on the mattresses and tried to sleep a little. Except for Bolin who said.

"Do you have anything to eat? I'm starving." Artyom took off his backpack and looked through it. He soon found what he was looking for.

"Here, catch." He said and threw a piece of meat to Bolin. Bolin catched it in the air and started to happily chew on it.

"Mmmm, this is good. What kind of meat is it?" He asked.

"Well, you know that Nosalis that I stopped from killing your brother." Artyom said. Bolin stopped chewing and looked down on the meat before shrugging and continuing. Before she tried to sleep, Asami looked at the happily chewing Bolin before looking at Artyom.

"Artyom?" She asked. Artyom looked at her.

"I have a question. Why do you help us so much, you could have easily just left us at that station to our own demise but you didn't, why?" She asked curious. The others now wanted to know as well. Artyom just sat there on his chair and thought of it.

"I don't do that. I try to help where I can. I have done stuff in the past that I'm not proud of and I'm doing anything that I can to make up for it. So it doesn't matter whatever you come from. I could not just leave you out there to die." He said while looking at Asami and smiling weakly.

"And before you ask, I'm not doing this for a reward but out of good will." He finished and Asami looked satisfied with his answer. Soon it was quiet in the room and what could only be heard was the snoring of Bolin. Korra felt that something was of and weakly opened her eyes and noticed that Artyom still sat on the chair and looked to be deep in thought.

"Aren't you going to sleep?" He asked him. Artyom looked at her and smiled.

"I don't sleep often. Don't you worry about me." He said. She was too tired to argue and closed her eyes. Artyoms smiled disappeared and he went back to his thought.

What am I going to do? They don't deserve to be here. How am I going to show them what happened to this world and how are they going to get back to their world? This is a real mess they have end up in. so many questions and so few answers. If only Khan was here. He would probably know what to do. But now he isn't here. We'll just have to wait and see how this play out. He thought before taking a hold of his Kalash and started to look over it for any malfunction or other problems.

"Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day." He said quiet to himself.


	4. Chapter 4 Dead world

Chapter 4 – Dead world

A couple of hours later

Artyom still sat in his chair, watching over the teens. He had looked over his equipment and found no big problems. He raised his arm and looked at his watch and saw that it was past noon. He sighed and lowered his arm down.

"Well, let's get this over with." He said to himself. He lifted himself of the chair and walked over to the closest teen with happened to be Korra. He kicked her a little with his boot and she started to stir.

"Up and dandy. There is no time like the present." He said to the groggy avatar. She raised herself from her makeshift bed and yawned and stretched her arms. She opened her eyes and saw Artyom going around waking the others. Soon all of them were awake.

"Man, I'm hungry. When are we going to have breakfast?" Bolin said while yawning.

"We will eat as soon as we reach Belorusskaya. Now, let's prepare for the surface." He said while walking towards the lockers and boxes in the room.

"Why do we need to prepare, isn't it just going up?" Mako asked.

"Njet, the temperatures are freezing up there. You're going to need some extra clothes otherwise you will just freeze to death. Check that locker, pick what you like." He said while pointing at one particular locker. The teens walked over to it and opened it. Inside the locker hung a couple of jackets. Mako took one out and saw that it had a sickly green on it.

"Oh, can I have that one?" Bolin asked his brother. Mako sighed and gave it to him. They looked through the locker but Asami wondered what Artyom was looking for in the boxes. She walked towards him when Artyom suddenly said.

"Aren't you going to pick a jacket?" He asked without looking up from the box he was currently checking. Asami stopped next to him and responded.

"I don't really need to. The clothes I wear now are just fine." She said while hinting towards the black and red bodysuit she was wearing.

"I just wondered what you was looking through." She said. Artyom didn't respond but said only.

"I know that it is going to lie here somewhere…aha, here it is." He said while picking up a large rectangular wooden box that was located between the larger boxes. He put it on the table and opened it up. Asami looked on the content of the box and got a little confused. It was filled with six masks with the front being mostly covered in glass and a big hole at the bottom of it. Now when she comes to think about it she reckon that Artyom have a similar mask on his backpack. She checks Artyoms back and sees the a similar mask hang from the backpack but this one had a big circular thing strapped on where the hole should be. She finally decided to ask.

"What are these?" She asked while pointing at the masks in the box.

"Gasmasks, help me find the filters to them." He said and walked back to the boxes. Asami looked at Artyom in confusing. Is that what these were? She remembered the equalist wearing something that they called a gasmask but these were nothing like the ones she had seen. She looked at the others and saw that they had picked different clothes. Mako was wearing a red jacket that had seen better days. Bolin was going around the dirty green one and Korra had picked also a green one but it seemed smaller than Bolin's. She looked at Artyom and saw that he came with a large sack. He put the sack on the table and she saw that a lot of those circular things were inside of it. Now the others had gathered around as well and looked confused at the masks.

"Good thing that they didn't managed to get all the supplies when they evacuated the stations. Alright everyone pick a mask and take at least three filters each. That should be enough for a trip on the surface to the station." Artyom said while handing out filters to the teens.

"Why would we need a mask?" Mako asked while picking up one and exanimating it. Artyom looked at Mako and said.

"The air is poisonous for the unmutated gene which includes humans. Without these you will suffocate in seconds." He said in a serious tone. The teens looked down at the masks

"This is how these work." He said while picking one up to show how it's done.

"You take a filter and you screw it on in the hole of the mask. You can then breathe up on the surface but as soon as you feel that it gets harder to breathe you can either switch to another filter or use up the whole filter that you are currently using. You will now when it's all used up when you suddenly feel unable to breathe. You must then switch to another filter quickly. The filters have enough clean air for about three to five minutes but we shouldn't have to worry about running out of air. There is going to be a lot of filters scattered across the surface. Alright, let's get going." Artyom said and picked up is Kalash that was resting at the wall and started to walk towards the door that led to the surface. The others picked up a mask each and screwed on the filters on them and followed him. Artyom opened the door and a stairway was seen. They walked up on it and continued to follow it until they reached another door. Artyom put on his gasmask and the teens did it as well. Artyom had his weapon at the ready and opened the door carefully. He took in his surroundings and saw nothing wrong.

"Okay, all clear. Let's move out." He said through the gasmask and walked through the door. The teens followed closely behind him and soon found themselves in a large room. They looked around and saw broken windows and that the roof had fallen inwards. They saw that the floor was littered with debris that consisted of stone and glass. They saw Artyom going slowly through the room towards a couple of large doors that they assumed was the way out. Artyom slowly opened the doors and walked out, the teens followed him. When they reach the outside they all gasped. The building that they were currently in had pillars and they saw a large road lying outside on the opposite side of the building littered with wrecks of what they assumed were their versions of Satomobiles. They saw large apartment and office buildings on both side of the road. They saw in the horizon large skyscrapers that could rival the largest buildings in Republic city. It was truly a sight to see but the thing that caught their attention the most was the state the city was in, it was all in ruins. The buildings had fallen apart and it was all grey and dull. The streets had become large holes filled with water and to their left they saw what a forest was once but were now filled with dead trees. Some places had spots of green but most of the city was covered in snow. They looked up into the sky and saw large black clouds the blocked the sun. Artyom had said it was past noon but yet if felt like it was night. They were truly at a loss of words.

"I…I…" Korra tried saying something but she couldn't get the words out.

"It is a horrible sight, I know." Artyom said what Korra tried to say. They saw that he walked out of the building into the open and looked around.

"This is what I meant that technology brought this on our world." He said almost shouting to the teens that still stood in the doorway of the building that they came from.

"You are currently looking at the city of Moscow. Once the great and beautiful capital of a once proud and powerful nation called Russia. Now it but a shadow of its former beauty and no human can live here without fear of being eaten by the monsters that now live in our former home. We now live down there in the underground tunnels of the metro like rats. But one day, we will take back the surface and we don't have to live in fear anymore.

"What happened to this world?" Bolin asked in disbelief. Artyom looked down on the ground and said with a sad tone.

"War…war happened." He said. Asami walked up to Artyom and put her hand on his shoulder and said in a concern tone.

"I know that war can be destructive but how could a war cause this kind of damage." Asami asked still in disbelief. Artyom was just about to answer when a roar could be heard in the distance and the flapping of wings. Artyom quickly tensed up to the sound, he knew it all too well.

"Quickly, back into the building." He practically yelled and he ran back to the building were the teens were standing. He hid behind a pillar and the teens did the same. They looked at the direction of the roar and gasped. A large flying creature flew in and landed on building on the opposite side of the road. It started to scan the area and looked around while sniffing. The teens stared in disbelief at the creature.

"What is that?" Korra asked in fear. Artyom stared at the beast and readied is weapon.

"A demon" Was all he said. The others stared on him and then back at the creature.

"A What?" Mako asked in disbelief.

"Large predatory creatures that hunt everything that moves. It is on top of the food chain in most part of the city. They are hard to evade and even harder to kill. If we meet the beast in the open, quickly run into the nearest hole as fast as possible. If you get captured by it you are as good as dead. Stick to the shadows and we will get out of this alive." Artyom finished. The Demon still sat on the roof and looked around. It started to sniff in their direction and then started to growl.

"It knows that we are here. This will be harder than a thought." But as soon as the beast and come it left. It started to fly away in the opposite direction of the station. The group left their cover and moved out into the open.

"Alright, the entrance to Belorusskaya station is about a mile down the road. We must hurry if we want to get there before our filters run out." Artyom said while pointing towards southeast.

"We can take cover amongst the trees to our left. Then we must cross a road that has now been turned into a river. So we must find a way across. Then we will walk through a row of buildings and as long as we stay in them we will be fine from demons but keep a watch out for other critters that live in them. They can be just as dangerous but first." He said and walked towards a corpse of a man that was resting on crashed car. He walked up to it and said.

"A stalker, these guys goes up to the surface every day in hope of finding that one unopened safe in the bottom of an irradiated hole. However while their job is dangerous it pays well. From simple toys to paintings to spare parts to sophisticated military hardware they get paid really well for everything they bring down into the metro. If you run out of ammo and supplies, just look for the bodies of these poor guys and there should be no problem. This is what I meant that we would not have much trouble with filters. I got to give this guy credit though. He came pretty far outside of the populated section of the metro. And here we got what I'm looking for." He finished and picked something up.

"Hey Asami, catch." He said and threw something to Asami. Asami clumsy caught it and looked down at what it was she was holding. It appeared to be a gun but it was so different from that one that Artyom was holding. While his was more streamlined and seemed to have been manufactured using produced parts, this one seemed to be made out of spare and missformed parts.

"What is this?" Asami asked while holding the strange looking weapon in her hand.

"It's called the bastard gun. It has accuracy like shit and overheats easily, a perfect beginner's weapon." Artyom said with a smirk. Asami glared at him. Asami then looked down on the gun in her hands and studied it closer.

"Uh…how does it work?" She asked through the gasmask. Artyom walked up to her and showed her.

"Alright, a quick crash course of this gun. You pull the trigger to fire and when it needs to be reloaded you take out the old magazine like this." He took out the magazine that was currently in the gun.

"And you put a new one in like this." He put the magazine back into the gun.

"And if it is completely empty you have to pull back the trigger to put a bullet into the chamber of the gun. Be sure to fire in short burst or otherwise the gun will overheat fast. If it overheats pull that plug at the back of the gun the let the heat out. After that you should be able to us it again with no problem. "He finished. Asami studied the gun some more and then looked at Artyom again.

"What kind of ammo does it use?" She asked. One thing she had noticed was that these so called guns used different kind of projectiles or bullets as Artyom called them and wanted to know what this one used for kind of caliber.

"It uses the 5:45 caliber rounds that are very commonly found in this wasteland. Here, have some ammo." He said and gave her a spare magazine which she took and put into her pockets.

"It will use them up fast thanks to its high fire rate so pick your targets carefully. Alright, if there is no other questions people let's get a move out." Artyom ordered and then started to sprint towards the dead forest. The teens followed him through the forest until they reached the road on the other side and just like Artyom had said there was now a river in their way.

"With most of the snow melting all the water must go somewhere." Artyom said while looking for a way across.

"Last time I crossed it I used a bus as a makeshift bridge but now it seems that it has fallen into the water so we can't use it." He said in deep though.

"Why not just swim across?" Bolin asked.

"You don't know what lives in the water Bolin. You want to be eaten?" He asked the earthbender. Bolin nervously shook his head in response. Artyom looked around and found a truck that was halfway into the water but it was high enough to use as a jumping point.

"We can use that truck to get across." Artyom said while pointing at said truck. The teens looked first confused but soon understood what he meant. Artyom was the first to climb up on it and then sprinted and jumped and landed on the other side of the river. Korra was next and without problem she was across as well. Asami jumped as well without problems and then it was Mako who came across without problems as well. Bolin still stood atop the truck and looked down onto the water before looking on the group on the other side.

"Are you sure that we just can't swim across?" He asked a second time.

"Just jump Bolin, what's the worst that can happen?" Korra said. Bolin gulped and jumped. He landed on the other side without any problems.

"See, I told you it was not danger." Korra said to her friend. Bolin nodded to this but before anyone could say anything else a large green creature jumped out of the water and grabbed Bolin with one of its giant claws and dragged him down. Bolin didn't even have time to yell out in surprise before he found himself under water.

"BOLIN!" Mako yelled and fired of a large flame out of his hand towards the creature but it just hit nothing. Artyom stared on in wonder at Mako's ability to cause fire from nowhere but soon shock himself out of it and saw that Bolin got dragged down fast. Mako tried to stop it but it was too late. It had disappeared into the water with Bolin but just as quickly as the creature had come up Artyom jumped in after with his knife drawn. He as well disappeared below the water and silence was soon al that could be heard. The remaining three stood there in shock and waited. The saw bubbles come up until they stopped and a large spot of blood covered the surface.

"No" Mako said while getting a tear in his eye. Korra and Asami stood there in shock until something broke the surface on the water. Bolin and Artyom threw themselves out of the water and onto dry land. Both was lying on the ground and breathed heavily in their gasmasks.

"BOLIN" Mako said in happiness and hugged his little brother who was currently trying to stand up. Korra and Asami sprinted over to Artyom to check on his condition.

"How do you feel?" Korra asked with a concern tone. Artyom looked at her and said.

"I'll be fine. Be glad that it wasn't bigger. You don't know how big those things can get, believe me I know." He said to the concern teens. They smiled at him and Korra helped him up.

"What happened in there?" Asami asked.

"I managed to grab on to its tail before it got away too far. I then stabbed it in the right arm so it let Bolin go and then I helped him up to the surface." Artyom said to the young inventor. Mako looked at his brother and then back at Artyom. He walked up to Artyom and said.

"Thank you for saving my brother." He said. Artyom smiled under his mask and responded.

"Don't mention it. I did what I had to too. Like a "friend" ones told me. We are all brothers in the metro." He said while pronouncing the word friend with venom in his voice. The teens looked confused but decided it could wait. He stood up straight and picked up his gun that he threw to the side.

"What was that?" Korra Asked referring to the creature while looking at the water.

"We call the shrimps. We do not know where they came from. They suddenly started to appear when the ice melted and rivers were formed but they are the main reason why we should try to stay out of the water. They are dangerous but they are tasty, especially with beer." Artyom responded. He then started to walk towards the buildings on their side of the river. The teens followed close by. They entered the buildings and walked through them without any big complications. After a few minutes they had covered a lot of ground and were closer to the station. All this time the teens have followed close behind Artyom. Along the way they found more corpses of the unfortunate that have died on the surface and stashes of ammo and other supplies. Even thought that the city lied in ruins the teens couldn't help but feel fascinated by the technological wonders that they found in the buildings they passed. While they didn't work Artyom explained with his limited knowledge of what they were and what they could do. There was stuff that was called computers and other things that was called a TV. There were much more advanced versions of telephones and there were things that were called cellphones. They had never seen stuff like that before and were more than fascinated by hearing of them. They could only imagine how they worked by going after was Artyom had told them. Each of these inventions would give Sato industries a run for its money. After a few more moments Artyom spoke up.

"Alright, it shouldn't be too far to the station now. We will be there within short. We have been lucky so far. There appears not to be too many mutants out but that is a way I prefer." He said. While walking through one of the offices in the buildings the group suddenly felt a small headache coming up.

"Hey, do you guys feel that as well?" Bolin said while rubbing his head.

"Yeah, it feels weird." Asami responded.

"I feel tired." Mako said while finding it harder to stay awake.

"Me too" Korra said while finding it hard to walk in a straight line. Artyom himself experienced a small headache when his eyes suddenly widened in realization.

"Oh no" He said quiet to himself.

"We need to get out of this building now!" He yelled to the others. He started to sprint to the end of the room they were currently in but the teens stayed behind until they fell down on the ground. He looked back and once again realized what was going on. He ran up to the teens and grabbed on to the now unconscious Korra and shook her, trying to wake her.

"Snap out of it, wake up." He yelled to her but it was no use. She closed her eyes and started to breathe heavily.

* * *

Korra found herself suddenly someplace unfamiliar but on the same time familiar. She had no idea how she suddenly ended up here. She blinked a few times and took in her new surroundings. It looked like the room she was in a few moments ago but this one looked all clean and colorful. She noticed that she was sitting behind a desk and was typing on what looked like a keyboard but what was stranger was the thing the keyboard was connected to. It wasn't a typing machine but it looked like one of the computers that Artyom mentioned before. The screen showed what she was typing but she couldn't understand was she was typing. She tried to stop but couldn't. She found herself unable to move on her own. She could just witness what was happening.

"Hey Tatiana, did you finish those files?" She could suddenly hear someone say in an accent similar to Artyom. She looked up and saw a man that was dressed in a fancy suit walk up to where she was sitting.

"I have indeed Mr. Korlov. I have them right here." She suddenly said but the voice that was coming out of her mouth was not her own. It was more mature then hers indicating that whoever she currently is, was an adult but it was female none the less. She stood up and handed a few papers to the man.

"Spasibo" The man said when he took the files and then looked through them. She stood still and waited for the man to stop looking through the files when her head was turned towards the window. She could now see out and her eyes went mentally wide. The entire outside world had changed as well. There were now green trees on the sidewalks and birds were flying through the air. The street was filled with vehicles and people filled the sidewalks. It looked like Republic city in so many ways but more advanced. She then looked back at the man that was still going through the papers. Her gazing was interrupted suddenly when a loud alarm erupted on the outside. Both she and the man looked at the window and looked out. She could see that the people on the sidewalks looked around as well in confusion.

"Eh, probably a military exercise or something, nothing to worry about." The man said when suddenly another sound could be heard. Korra looked at the sound and saw large cylinder objects being launched into the sky. They climbed into the sky and disappeared behind the clouds. Suddenly panic erupted on the streets and people started to sprint in all directions. She looked back at the man and he now looked terrified and then he screamed.

"IT'S FOR REAL, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES." He then started to run towards the door when suddenly a blinding light erupted. She covered her eyes but she managed to peak through her fingers. Her eyes widened when she saw it. A large mushroom shaped fire cloud was seen and the shockwave that tore through everything. It came closer and closer destroying everything in its way. She saw that people ran for their lives but got burned right there and turned into ash on the spot. She saw that her hand started to boil and she could feel the pain. Entire buildings crumbled and vehicles fell over by the shockwave. She didn't even have time to scream until she heard.

"WAKE UP!"

Korra snapped her eyes open and threw herself up while breathing heavily. She took in her surroundings and saw that she was back in the same room as she was before, all grey and dull. She saw Artyom looking down on her with a concern look on her face. She looked around and saw that the others were waking up as well. She looked at Artyom with a confused look and said.

"What happened? I saw some kind of hallucination." Artyom smiled under his mask and said.

"You got hit by a vision from the past. I have been through the same thing. That's how I knew what was going on." He finished and helped Korra up on her feet. The others got up as well and looked around confused.

"The metro isn't the only place haunted by the dead. Here on the surface the oldest ones still roam. They have been here since the war, living their last moments in life. I don't know what you just witnessed but you just saw the last moments of that person's life before he or she died. These "hallucinations" are almost everywhere on the surface. Some are harmless, you are still awake when they happen but you witness the last moments through your eyes. Some are more dangerous like this one. You fall unconscious on the ground and suffocate if you don't wake up soon. " Artyom said while looking over the teens. The teens looked at each other until Asami spoke.

"I was in this very room before it got destroyed and I was woman named Tatiana and I witness a huge explosion and…the destruction of this city." She said the last bit uncomfortable and the others looked at her.

"You were her as well? I didn't want to say anything because I find it awkward that I was a girl for a short period of time but still I saw it to." Bolin said while Mako face palmed at his brothers silliness. Artyom couldn't help but smile at the earthbender's humor.

"Alright, let's leave this building unless you want another vision." He said and started to exit the room. The others followed close by without hesitation. They soon exited the building and soon found themselves in what was once a playground. They continued carefully until they heard a howl in the distance and the ground shock a little.

"Shit, get behind something now!" Artyom said and the group took cover behind the wreck of a van that had crashed into the monkey bars. The teens wondered now what was going to happen when they saw a large pack of weird looking creatures run past them without noticing them. They sprinted on their four legs and had small patches of fur on their bodies and their mouths were filled with razor sharp teeth's.

"What are those things?" Korra asked in a whisper to Artyom.

"Watchmens, don't let them see us or we get ripped to shreds." Artyom said while holding tight onto his weapon. The teens looked nervously at the pack as it ran by. The pack was huge and it kept on running past them for about twenty seconds. The whole pack had soon passed by them but they noticed that one had stayed behind. They saw the cause of it. It had found the body of a dead person and decided to snack on it. It had its back to them and Artyom looked out from behind the van.

"We can't sneak past it, its hearing and keen of smell is just too good so it will notice us with ease but we can't just take it out right on. It will warn its friends of us and they will come running to us." Artyom weighed their options when an idea sprung up in his head. He took out a blue knife and held it in its tip

"Let's just hope that my aim is still as good." He said and threw it. It struck the creature right in the back of its neck and killed it instantly. Artyom said a quiet yes and then spoke to the teens.

"Alright, let's move." Artyom ordered the group and they started to walk across the playground. They were almost over to the other side when a roar could be heard behind them and the flapping of large wings.

"DEMON! We got to hurry." Artyom yelled while he started to sprint towards a hole in the wall on the building in front of them and just like he had said, said demon appeared and spotted the group. It flew down on an attack approach with its claws at the ready. The group was almost at the hole in the wall when the demon was upon them. It grabbed a hold on Bolin and lifted him up in the air.

"AHHHHHHH not again." Bolin screamed. The group looked on in horror when the demon flew away with their teammate.

"No" Mako yelled and fired fireball after fireball towards the flying creature but they all missed the creature who evaded them.

"Allow me to try." Artyom said and fired with his Kalash at the flying beast. The teens had to cover their ears because of the sound it gave out. This was the first time they saw a gun in action and they noticed how the bullets flew through the air and pierced the demons skin. The said demon roared in pain and tried to get away from the shooting ranger. Soon the flying beast disappeared behind the buildings and was out of their sight.

"No" Make said again but with a lower voice. The girls stared in disbelief and Artyom walked up to Mako and put his hand on his shoulder.

"Mako, I am so sorry." Mako shrugged his hand of and turned to Artyom.

"We must save him." He said to the ranger.

"There is nothing we can do. He is done for." Artyom said and reloaded his weapon before starting to walk towards the hole in the wall without saying another word. The teens looked on in surprise and Mako sprinted up to Artyom and grabbed on to his arm.

"Woah, woah. What do you mean by that? We must at least try. We can't just leave him. Listen, I'm not going to leave my Br…" Mako said but was interrupted by Artyom who turned to Mako and said.

"Listen Mako, no one has ever been saved from a successful demon attack before. Do you think this is the first demon attack I have seen? I know what happens to those who get grabbed by a demon. They almost snap your back in half and claw at you if you try to resist. If they manage to carry you of out of ones reach then you are as good as dead. That demon probably lives on one of these rooftops. It's like finding a nail in a haystack and we don't have enough of filters for such a search." Artyom said while staring the older brother down.

"I am truly sorry but there is nothing we can do to save him." Artyom finished and started to walk towards the hole again but was stopped by the two females of the group.

"We will not leave Bolin behind." Korra said with a determent tone with her arms crossed, Asami nodded. Artyom stared at the two girls and then back at the firebender before sighting in defeat.

"Well, there is a first time for everything." Artyom said quietly.

"Okay, we will have to search fast but when our filter supplies are running low we must abort, understand." He said to the teens. They looked at each other and then nodded.

"Alright let's go, it headed this way." He said while he and the teens started to walk towards the direction were the demon had flew of in.


	5. Chapter 5 More suprises

Chapter 5 – More surprises

"Now listen, I taste awful. I mean, I'm very bony and all, you will not get a good meal out of me. How about you let me back to my friends and we forget this whole ordeal." Bolin said while he desperately tried to convince the beast to not eat him. The demon flew towards the rooftop of one of the apartment buildings and released Bolin. He fell on his back with a thud on the ground.

"Ow" He said while rubbing his back. The demon landed in front of him and Bolin looked up at the demon in fear. The beast was huge in comparison to Bolin, easily five times bigger than him. The beast growled and started to walk towards Bolin who backed away in fear. The beast lounged at him but he managed to jump out of the way. The demon roared and tried to attack again. Bolin once again jumped out of the way but noticed that he was running out of rooftops. He looked behind him and saw the ground far down and then back at the demon. It walked slowly up towards him growling but Bolin decided he wouldn't go down without a fight. He raised his arms and said.

"Bring it on." The beast roared and charged him. He punched the air and a large piece on concrete flew up from the roof and hit it right in the face. The demon backed away, clearly surprised by the attack. It shocks its head and looked at Bolin again with rage in its eyes. It roared again and charged. Bolin repeated the attack but this time with a much larger piece of concrete. Even though concrete was much harder to bend then regular earth he could still bend some of it. It slammed right in the demons face again and it roared in pain. It charged again towards Bolin but he managed to jump out of the way. The demon flew right past him and of the roof. It got surprised that it were no longer on solid ground but it spread its wings and started to fly. Bolin saw this has his chance and started to look around for a way of the roof. He saw a ladder on the other side and started to sprint towards it with the demon hot on his trail. He screamed like a little girl until he reached the ladder and started to climb down. When he had reached a safe distance he looked up and saw the demon looking down on him.

"Ha ha. Try and get me now." He said mockingly. The demon roared at him and then looked at the ladder and then back at him. Bolin could swear that he saw the demon smirk. Bolin's eyes widened when he realized what the demon was thinking.

"Oh no you don't." Bolin said in a threatening tone but it was to no use. The demon started to claw at the twenty year old ladder and Bolin saw that it would not last long. He started to race down the ladder but about half way down it gave away. It fell apart and Bolin gave out a surprised yelp when he now found himself in free fall. Bolin looked down and noticed water under him and before he could think another though he splashed through it. He took in his new surroundings and saw that he was indeed under water. He swam to the surface and took a deep breath of fresh air through the filter of his gasmask. He started to swim towards the closest shore until he heard something swim behind him. He looked back and his pupils went small. One of those large shrimps swam towards him. He screamed like a little girl again and started to race towards the shore. The shrimp was taken back by how fast he started to swim away. Bolin soon reached the shore and climbed out of the water as fast as he could. He sprinted away from the water and saw that the shrimp didn't follow but roared at him and dove underwater. He let out a deep breath when he noticed it got harder to breath. The filter was starting to give out so he reached out for his pocket. He looked through it when his eyes widened in fear. There was nothing there. The filters must have fallen out.

"Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no." He said while pacing back and forth.

"Wait" He said when suddenly an idea came up in his mind.

"Artyom said that the surface was littered with the bodies of people that had died. There must be some of them in this area and some of them must have a couple of spare filters." He said when he started to look around. He entered a building close by and looked through the rooms. He soon came to a far hallway but he was running out of time. He noticed that it got harder and harder to breathe for every breath I took. When he walked down the hallway he noticed something, the dead body of one of these so called watchmen. He walked up to it and saw that it was located in the doorframe of a room. He looked in the room and saw a couple of more of these watchmen dead on the ground but in the far end of the room he saw a dead person. It had a cracked gasmask that was missing a filter and cartridges littered the floor indicating that this person didn't go down without a fight. A weapon was lying at its feet that looked kind of strange in comparison to the others he had seen.

"Jackpot" He said quiet to himself. He sprinted up to the dead body and looked through its supplies. He noticed that it had a backpack at the side of him and he started to look through it.

"Bingo" He said and picked out a couple of spare filters it had in its backpack. He took a filter and switched it out with his old one. He calmed down when he could breathe normally again. He decided to take the backpack but he also would like a souvenir of his adventure. He looked at the body and noticed that was something around its throat. He took it out and saw that it was a necklace with a small plate that had the same mark as Artyoms helmet. On the backside was the strange writing again that Artyom could read. He decided to keep the necklace and see what Artyom had to say about it. He then looked at the weapon on the ground and thought that it looked kind of cool. He bended down and picked up the weapon of the ground. He studied it in his hands. It looked no were near identical to the gun either Artyom or Asami was using. It must be a brand new gun. He had listened in on what Artyom had taught Asami of firearms and studied it closer. Its magazine appeared to be on top of the gun and he could pull the trigger under it. He saw that its magazine was almost full when he heard a growling behind him. He looked behind him and saw a lone watchmen looking at him, showing him its fangs.

"Oh, crud" He said to himself. Bolin stood completely still while locking eyes with the creature. It then charged and Bolin didn't think but fired the gun away. He closed his eyes and almost fell over by the knockback of the weapon. He heard something yelp and opened his eyes. There at his feet the watchmen was lying dead. The let out a deep breath and walked around the corpse of the dead mutant. When he walked out into the hallway he saw something run past at the end of it. He raised an eyebrow and walked to the end of the hallway to check it out. When he reached it he found nothing until he suddenly heard children laughter. He almost jumped out of his skin and realized what it could mean, that the dead could be here.

"Got to be careful, got to remember what Artyom said." He said to himself while walking carefully out of the building. He noticed that this was not the same way he had entered and saw that he had reached another playground. He looked around until he could hear the child laughter again and then suddenly a flash that made him close his eye. When he opened them up again they immediately went wide. The playground was suddenly whole again and it was daytime without a single cloud in the sky. Children was running around and playing while their parents looked on. They didn't seem to mind that he stood in the middle of it all. He looked around and saw the green and beautiful trees and he could hear the city in the background, not to different from the sound of Republic city. He almost took of his gasmask because he thought that it was safe to breathe when Artyoms advice came up in his head.

"Some visions are harmless. You just witness the last moments through your own eyes." He could hear Artyoms words inside his head. He stopped himself and just as quickly the vision had come it disappeared in a similar flash. He now found himself again in the middle of the destroyed playground and looked around. When he looked forward his eyes widened so large that if any bigger they would almost cover up his entire face. There on the other side of the playground stood a tall creature that he had never seen before. It stood on its hind legs and was almost twice as tall as he. It had black and dark greyish skin. Its arms almost touched the ground and on its face it had some weird trunk looking thing. It looked at him with curious eyes and tilted its head to the side. Bolin stood completely still, too freighted to do anything. They stood and looked at each other until the creature just simply vanished into thin air, if Bolin was afraid before he was now completely terrified. What was that and how did it do that. He had to ask Artyom that later on. He looked around and found an alleyway that led to the streets. He walked through it and soon found himself at the side of the destroyed road.

"Hmm, were to go?" He asked himself. He looked around and sighed. He took his chances and walked out in a random direction of the street, hoping that it was the right one.

* * *

The group had been searching for a while now for their missing teammate but had come up with nothing. They have tried to reach most of the rooftops but with fallen stairways and ladders everywhere that was proven to be quite a problem.

"We must keep searching. We can't give up now." Make said to the rest of the group. The group had reached the streets close to Belorusskaya which the demon conveniently flew of in. Artyom walked up to Mako and said.

"Mako, we can't continue searching. Our filters are running low. We must go to the station before our air reserves run out." He told the firebender. Mako just glared at him and said.

"I'm not going to leave my brother behind. Go to the station yourself. I'll just keep searching by myself." Mako said and turned his back to the ranger. Now anger was rising in Artyom and he grabbed on to Mako and slammed him into the closest wall.

"Listen you child, people die all the time in the metro. I myself have lost brothers in arms. You think that I don't know how you feel. Pavel, Stephan, Uhlman is just a few of the many who have died and their deaths will always be on my conscience." He said with a hint of sadness in his voice

"But I bet that your brother would not want all of us to disappear while looking for him. I meant what I said before that I am truly sorry but…we must continue on to the station." Mako got loose from Artyom grip and aimed his hands at Artyom.

"I'm not leaving him behind!" He yelled out in anger at the ranger. Artyom glared at the teen and responded.

"You're going to try and burn me. Go ahead; I'll shoot your head clean off if you try that!" He yelled back while he aimed his Kalash on Mako's head. Both stood and aimed on each other with their respective weapons while glaring angrily on each other through their respective gasmasks. Korra then realized that she had enough of both of them.

"Alright, both of you calm down." She said while stomping on the ground and a stone wall appeared between them. Both of them jumped away in surprise of that action and then they both looked at her and she continued talking.

"Look Mako, he's right. We can't continue on. We must go to the station. I'm down to my last filter and as well with Asami. I hate to leave Bolin behind but we must do it." Mako glared at her and then at Asami and then back at her but then sighed.

"I promised him when mom and dad died I would take care of him no matter what. I don't want to break that promise." He while he looked down on the ground, a tear escaping his eye. Artyom walked past the stone wall and up to Mako and put his and on his shoulder.

"Let us honor you brothers' memory by getting you guys to safety, come on." Artyom said with a sad tone and started to walk towards the direction of the station. Asami looked at Mako and then followed, Korra did the same. Mako took one last look on the buildings behind him and sighed. He followed the group when they suddenly heard something.

"Hey, there you guys are." They all turned around too looked at were the voice was coming from and saw a familiar person coming running towards them from an alleyway.

"Bolin!" Mako screamed on top of his lungs in happiness and ran up to his brother and hugged him as hard as he could.

"Can't. Breathe." Bolin managed to say. Mako let go and smiled sheepishly. Korra and Asami ran up to him as well while Artyom walked up to him. The teens had no end of questions.

"How did you get away?" Korra asked.

"How did you find us?" Asami asked.

"And where did you get that?" Mako asked while referring to the gun in his hand.

"Well, it had taken me to its nest on the rooftop and was about to eat me but I managed to avoid it. I managed to escape from the roof that it had taken me to. I then fell into the water again and almost got eaten by one of those shrimps again but I got away. I then noticed that I had lost all my filters but I managed to find a dead body that had a lot of filters in his backpack. I then took his gun because it looked cool and was once again almost eaten by one of those so called watchmen. I killed it with this gun and then I started to search for you guys. I heard screaming in the background and decided to check it out and here we are." He finished. His friends looked on in amazement but the one who were most amazed where Artyom who walked up to the group. He then showed them the content of his backpack.

"Look, I got filters for everybody." He said and everyone took at least one.

"Most impressive, You guys are more experienced that I first thought. And that gun that you are holding is a rare gun, very hard to find and very expensive." He said while pointing at the gun.

"It is?" Bolin said while looking the gun over again.

"Da, it is called a Kalash 2012. It was the most modern weapon used by the military before the war and is highly sought after in the metro thanks to its performance and durability. To find one in the metro is rare and to find one on the surface is even rarer. It is good and all but I prefer the older version." He said while referring to his gun in his hands.

"It is much better than a bastard gun." He said while smirking at Asami who just glared at him while holding said gun. Bolin smiled knowing that he had found a rare weapon that was according to Artyom one of the best there is. Artyom then came to think of something.

"Tell me Bolin, how did the body look like?" He asked the earthbender.

"Well, it wore some strange clothes hard to describe but it had this around its throat." He said while giving the necklace to Artyom. Artyom eyes widened under his gasmask and he took the necklace from Bolin and studied it closer. His eyes widened in realization, it was a ranger mark.

"Do you know what it is?" Bolin asked, Artyom nodded and started to explain.

"This is a ranger mark, it belongs to the order. A group of soldiers dedicated on keeping the peace in the metro. They utilize the most modern technology in the metro and they are the best and most skilled fighters as well. One of them is tough enough to bring down at least ten enemy soldiers or mutants before he goes down. This guy must have been a ranger stalker. They are chosen wisely amongst the rangers to walk up on the surface of dead Moscow to bring back certain artifacts. Sadly, not all of them return from such a mission." He finished and looked over the tag once again.

"This man was named Ivan Popov, sergeant. You did a great service in bringing this to me Bolin." He said while looking at said earthbender.

"I did?" He asked confused. Artyom nodded.

"The order always wants to know what happens to those who do fail to return. I will bring this to the orders archives so they can write down who have fallen in battle." He said with a sad tone while he turned towards the direction of the station.

"How do you know so much about the rangers?" Korra asked, wanting to know more. This so called order had really sparked her interest.

"That's easily, I'm one of them." Was all Artyom said. The teens looked at each other but then decided to once again follow them.

"Oh, one more thing Artyom." Bolin suddenly said. Artyom stopped walking and turned towards the earthbender.

"Da?" Artyom said.

"I witnessed a weird vision but thanks to your advice I wasn't fooled by it but when it had finished I saw a strange creature. It was tall and humanoid. It had long arms and a weird looking trunk on its face but didn't look like one of these Nosalises. Do you know what it was?" He asked the ranger. Artyom eyes went wide and he grabbed on to the earthbender.

"You saw a dark one?!" He asked in disbelief. Bolin who was taken aback by that action managed to say.

"I...I think so." Artyom let go of him and said with a quiet voice while smiling.

"They have returned." He said with a tone of hope. The teens looked once again confused at him and Asami spoke up.

"What do you mean by that and what is a dark one?" She asked.

"Later, now we must continue. Belorusskaya is just around the corner. We will be there in no time and then we can finally rest." Artyom responded while walking at the side of the road.

"We can cut through this building to get to the station faster." He said and walked up to said building on their right. They entered through the main door and walked into a large room. The room looked like a check in area and it was so far except for them empty of anything alive. It looked like some kind of store of some kind. The walls had shelves on them and a counter was at the end of the room. They walked towards a room in the end but Artyom then suddenly stopped while a weird sound was coming from him.

"What is making that sound?" Mako asked.

"See for yourself." Artyom said and took out a strange looking device from his backpack. It was yellow and at had meter on it. Artyom pointed it to the room in front of them and it went crazy.

"We can't go through here." Artyom said and put the device away.

"Why not?" Korra asked.

"The room is flooded with radiation. We will be dead before we even get halfway through." He said and looked for an alternative route.

"What is radiation and what was that thing that you used?" Bolin asked.

"Radiation in an invisible energy that if you are exposed too much of it you will die within seconds. The thing that I used is called a Geiger counter and it is used to find radiation hotspot and for avoiding them." He said and walked through another room instead.

"The radiation was left behind after the bombs detonated and most of the surface is so irradiated it can boil water. There are also some hotspots down in the metro as well." He finished and the teens listened on to every word. They walked through the rest of the building with no big problems and soon exited on the other side. The street like all the others were broken up into two halves with them being on the other side and with a river between them.

"There is the entrance to the station." Artyom said while pointing at a stairway that went down into a building.

"We just need to find a way into the sta…" He was suddenly interrupted by a howl in the distance.

"Shit, not now. Not when we are so close. We must find a way across NOW!" He practically yelled the last words. The teens recognized that sound. It was the same howl they have heard before. It was the same howl before that huge pack of watchmen came running past them in the playground. Soon enough, they could see the creatures. They started to come out of the buildings and growled at the group of people. Artyom looked around and spotted a bus that lay like a bridge across the gap.

"There, to the bus now." He said and sprinted to the bus. The teens followed while the horde of watchmen attacked. Artyom raised his gun and fired at the creatures and killing one after another while sprinting towards the bus. Mako used his fire to scare them of and they kept their distance from the firebender. Korra did the same combined with air bending to throw any beast who tried to lounge at her. Bolin and Asami ran as fast as they could while holding their respective found weapons. They ran into the bus and through it to the other side. The group ran towards the entrance to the station but they were far from safe. The watchmen had used the bus as well as a bridge and soon caught up with the fleeing humans. They ran down the stairs while hearing the growling and howling behind them. They soon reached the end and found themselves in front of a large metal door. Artyom ran up to it and started to bang on it as hard as he could.

"Open up you bastards!" He yelled while banging on the door. The teens saw the huge horde of creatures run down the stairs when they suddenly heard alarms behind them.

"Okay, we hold it out here until they can open up the door, give them everything you have." He said while rising is rifle and opened fire at the beasts. Korra, Mako and Bolin used their bending to repel the beasts. Asami was just about to raise her gun and fire upon the watchmen when one jumped and landed right on Artyom. Artyom was taken by surprise and tried to fight the monster of. Asami aimed her gun and fired away. Just like Bolin had been, she was surprised by the knockback the weapon had and almost fell of her feet. She bullets flew towards Artyom and the watchmen and they hit right where they were supposed to go. The beast howled in pain and fell of Artyom. He got back on his feet and looked at Asami.

"Spasibo." He said while getting back up on his feet. They could suddenly hear the giant door opening.

"Quickly, to the side." Artyom said and ran up to the wall. The teens did the same and as soon the door had fully opened two guards dressed in heavy armor came out carrying strange looking devices and started to release large flames at the incoming horde. The two armored guards easily dispatched the horde. The group ran through the open door and the two armored guards followed and soon the door started to close with the surviving watchmen effortlessly trying make it inside before it fully closed. It soon shut close and the watchmen howled in anger for their lost prey. Behind the large door, Artyom and the gang tried to catch their breath when Artyom decided to say something similar that someone he knew had said after a similar situation.

"Like a stroll through the park." He said with a grin while the teens glared at him.


	6. Chapter 6 At last, Civilization

Chapter 6 – At last, "Civilization"

"Walk up and remove your masks so I can see your faces." The guard captain ordered the group. He was wearing a tan suit with a black vest while holding an AKSU in his hands. Artyom walked up and removed his gasmask and the teens did the same.

"Well I'll be, Artyom. So you made it back and here we started to think that you were a lost cause." The guard captain said jokingly. Artyom rolled his eyes and responded.

"If you think a couple of watchmen are too much for me than you have underestimated me completely, Yokol." The guard captain now identified as Yokol laughed.

"Ha ha, I should have known better and I did. Pay up boys." He said while referring to the others at the guard post. They started to mumble to themselves and gave the captain five bullets each.

"We made a bet that if you would either die out there or make it back and most here thought that you wouldn't make it. I on the other hand never doubted you for a second and thanks to that I now go home richer." Yokol said with a smug smile. His eyes then turned serious when he took a look behind the ranger and spotted the others in the group.

"I don't remember you having a team with you, children none the less." Yokol said.

"Children?" Korra said offended.

"These? They are…um…just a couple of wannabe stalkers that I rescued at Dinamo station. They are however skilled for being so young so don't underestimate them." Artyom said in their defense. Yokol grabbed his chin and thought of it.

"Dinamo station? That place is creepy as hell. Good thing that we blew up the tunnel between us and that station. Well, if you say so I believe you. Anyway, you need to fill out some papers before fully entering the station. The kids need to wait here while you do it." Yokol said. Artyom nodded and looked at the teens and whispered so only they could hear what he had to say.

"Remember; don't do any bending what so ever. These people have never seen something like that before and I don't want to cause any panic. Wait here until I return." He finished and started to follow Yokol into another room. The teens looked around at the group of guards that surrounded them. Asami looked around in fascination of the craftsmanship of these guys. They seem to have made that heavy and bulky armor out from scrap but they protected the bearer fully. The weapons that they had used seemed to some sort of fire weapon but Artyom had said that there were no benders in this world so how they fully worked she could only guess. The other guards wore something less bulky with seemed to be something similar that Artyom was wearing and had similar weapons he had as well.

"Oh, what is this?" Bolin suddenly said while looking at a large, strange looking weapon that was positioned behind some sandbags and aimed towards the door.

"Don't touch that." One of the guards said in a threating tone and Bolin backed away from the weapon. Soon Artyom and Yokol exited from the room and Artyom looked at the teens.

"Okay, I have done everything that I needed to do. We can now enter the station without any problems." He said.

"Indeed, now it is my duty as the guard captain to welcome you to Belorusskaya." Yokol said and allowed the group to enter the station. Artyom nodded his thanks and he and the teens walked into the station. The station was crowded and was filled with makeshift homes and stores. It reminded them of the homeless that lived in republic city and how they had built a community underground. They walked past the homes and they could hear children laughing and people talking to each other. They looked around in fascination that even though that their world had ended years ago they had seemed to have rebuilt their community underground. They exited the area that contained the homes and entered the marketplace. The market place was filled with stores that sold all kinds of things, from toys to food to clothes to weapons. The store clerks all yelled out different things.

"Bullets, buying and selling, buying and selling." One yelled out.

"Fresh meat, dragged in by the hunters this morning." Another yelled out.

"Weapons, you can't last long in the metro without a way to defend yourself." And so on. When they entered most people turned to look at them in wonder. Korra first thought that they were looking at her but she was mistaken. They seemed to look at Artyom while he walked through the marketplace with the teens behind him. Artyom stopped walking and turned towards the teens.

"You can buy some supplies if you want. Here, have some cartridges so you can pay for whatever you need." He said and gave them at least fifty military grade rounds each. The teens took the currency and looked down at it in their hands.

"This is your currency?" Mako asked in disbelief while looking down at the bullets in his hand. Artyom nodded and started to explain.

"Indeed, we use what we called military grade rounds down here to buy and it also works in most weapons as ammo." He finished. Asami then spoke up.

"Thank you, we will repay you whenever we can." She said and the others nodded.

"You don't need to repay me; I help where ever I can. I will need to go and fix some things. Buy some supplies with the bullets and when you are finished we will go someplace nice and I will hold my end of the bargain and tell you everything you want to know about me and this world. I'll meet up with you at the end of the marketplace." Artyom said and turned around and walked to the end of the marketplace and out of their sight. The teens looked around at the different stores that were around them. They then turned towards each other and started to talk with each other.

"Okay, we will only buy what we need. We will meet up at the end of the marketplace in about five minutes and join up with Artyom, okay." Korra said to the others and they nodded.

"I want to take a look at the food that they sell here." Bolin said and started to race towards the food stalls. Mako face palmed and followed his brother.

"I will make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." Mako said and followed him. Mako loved his brother but sometimes he was too much. The girls stood there and then looked at each other.

"Should we see what they are selling?" Korra asked.

"After you." Asami responded and they walked away in the opposite direction. The girls walked up to what they assumed were the store that sold weapons. They started to look through the weapons displaced in the back and they were both fascinated by each and every ones style.

"Can I help you two?" They suddenly heard and saw a man behind the counter that was no doubt the store owner. The man looked at the surprised teens with curious eyes.

"Um…yes, we would like to know more about each weapon that you are selling." Asami said.

"Ah, are you two preparing to buy something?" The owner said with a smirk.

"Maybe, if we find anything that we like." She responded.

"Fair enough, let's get started. I see that you currently have a Bastard gun so you are familiar with how that works, Da?" He asked while referring to the gun that was hanging on Asami's back. Asami nodded and the owner continued.

"Well, the first gun in my collection here is the Lolife, built and maintained here in the metro." He said and took out small, one handed gun from behind the counter.

"It is small and not really that powerful but use cheap ammo and it can be outfitted with a row of attachments that increase the effectiveness of the weapon." He said and put the gun down on the counter.

"Oh, it looks cool." Korra said while studying the small weapon. She thinks that a large gun like Artyoms or Asami's will just slow her down if she takes one but a small one can be useful if she needs to use one, like if must go up on the surface again.

"Next is the Duplet shotgun, also built in the metro." He said and took out a two handed weapon with two large barrels on top of it.

"It is easy to use and packs a real punch at short range but its low ammo capacity makes it difficult to use when you're getting swarmed. It can be outfitted with an extra set of barrels to increase the firepower put it will be harder to reload and it will eat through ammo faster." He said and put the shotgun also on the counter.

"Next is a personal favorite of mine. It is named the Tihar and like the others, also built in the metro." He said and took out a long rifle with a strange pull on the front of it.

"This pneumatic weapon is easy to use. Uses really cheap ammo and packs a real punch. The only downside is that it must be filled with air to work fully and the less air in its tanks then the less power it hits with." He said and put the rifle down on the counter.

"Wait, air?" Korra asked intrigued.

"Da, it is powered by air. It uses the air pressure in the tank to launch the projectiles at supersonic speed. You pump it full of air with this lever in front and you keep a look at the pressure meter to make sure you don't fill it with too much air or else it is going to start to leak." Asami listen to him describe how the weapon worked with the help of air pressure. She was fascinated at how they each worked and wondered why her world had never thought of building such technology. She broke away from her thoughts when the owner took out another weapon.

"Here is a favorite amongst most metro inhabitants. The Kalash, one of the few weapons that were built up on the surface before the war and his highly priced down here the metro. I don't know the full backstory of the weapon role before the war but what I know it was the symbol of our motherlands once mighty army" He said and picked out said weapon and put it on the counter.

"It is reliable and has a great performance. It is hard to aim with it because of the strong knock back but it delivers great damage against anything that tries to hurt you." He said.

"Yes, we know of this weapon. A friend of ours uses this weapon." Korra said while she studied the weapon. She had never had a chance to really take close look at the gun since Artyom was carrying it all the time.

"Ah, does this friend happen to be the man you spoke to earlier and who gave you and your friends some bullets?" The owner asked curious.

"Yes, his name is Artyom." Asami said while still looking at the weapons in front of her.

"Miss, I know of him. Everyone knows of him and any friend of him earns a discount here at my store." The owner said with a smile. This caught Asami and Korra by surprise.

"Really?" They both asked in disbelief.

"Da, but not too big of a discount, I still need to make a living here." The owner said.

"Fair enough." Korra said. "But still, why a discount?"

"Because we all own our lives to him. He has done so much good for our station and we all know what happened at D6. He is a true hero and he deserves anyone's respect and as I said, any companion to him is probably just as good so that's why the discount. Oh, I have one more weapon in my collection if you are interested." The owner said and both girls looked at him curiously. He smiled and walked towards a cabinet behind him.

"This baby is a ranger exclusive. Not many have been built but I had the fortune to have come across one." He said and opened the cabinet and took out a large gun. He walked back to the counter and put the gun down.

"Say hello to the hellbreath aka the volt driver." He said and the girls looked on in wonder at the unique weapon.

"It uses the same ammo as the Tihar but in a different way. Instead of using air pressure to fire the projectile it uses electricity. You charge it up in the handle back here." He said while pointing at a handle at the back of the weapon.

"And when it is fully charged it fires the metallic balls at supersonic speeds with the help of magnets and they also carry an electric charge that is powerful enough to bring down a demon in two or three shots. This weapon was built by the ranger order and there isn't many left today since they didn't see the need of these weapons since they found D6 but I still think it is a good gun for the one who want to cause some real damage." He finished and smiled when he put the weapon down on the counter.

"The biggest downside of this weapon is that it needs to be recharged often and its heavy weight makes it hard to aim with." The girls looked on in wonder until Korra spoke up.

"You have an impressive collection of weapons here" She said to the owner.

"Ha, this is nothing. If you want to see a real collection of guns you should travel to the armory. There they have every weapon available in the metro but be warned. It is located in the red line and those guys don't mess around." He said to the two girls who looked on in confusion.

"Now on to some attachments if you want to improve any guns you already have."

* * *

"Wow, they really have a large amount of meat here." Bolin said while checking out the food section of the market. Large chunks of meat were hanging from the ceiling of the stalls and they looked to be from all kinds of animals. Some were from animals that they haven't ever seen before while some had some familiarity to them.

"Hmm" Mako agreed while looking at the food. He noticed that there where almost no vegetables part from canned food but he guess he couldn't blame them. It was perhaps hard to grow corps underground without any sunlight. They also seemed to sell fish as well but it was deformed and some had…legs which just seemed wrong to him. He also spotted something that looked like spiderrats but it only had four legs and fur. They saw some living animals in cages that looked like pigcows but without any horns and they were pink.

"Hmmm, this meat does look strange doesn't it?" Bolin suddenly said and Mako nodded.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" The suddenly heard a gravelly voice say and saw a large woman behind the counter. They were taken by surprise by her sudden appearance.

"Oh, Uhhh." Bolin tried to find what to say but was interrupted by the woman.

"I know what you are thinking. You think this is bad meat. You think you can make better. Well I tell you, this meat was dragged in by the hunters this morning and I like to see a whelp like you drag in anything better." She said with much authority in her voice. Bolin ran behind Mako and hid behind his back. Mako shock his head and looked the woman in her eyes.

"Now look here mam, we didn't mean to insult you or…" Mako tried to say but was interrupted.

"Quiet boy." She said while pointing her finger at him.

"Yes mam." He said while he shrunk away a little because of her glare.

"I think we should go now." Bolin said scared and he and Mako started to make their way away from the crazy woman's food stall.

"I'll be watching you, you hear me. I'll be watching you!" She yelled after them and earned some looks from others.

"Wow, she's nuts." Bolin said while Mako nodded. They walked to the middle of the market place and saw Korra and Asami coming towards them.

"Okay, were done." Korra said and crossed her arms.

"So, what did you guys buy?" She asked the boys. Bolin and Mako looked at each other and Bolin then said.

"Well, we decided that we could wait about buying some supplies." He said and looked back at the crazy woman's food stall. Said woman glared at them and Bolin flinched a little and looked back at his friends.

"So what did you two buy?" Mako asked the girls.

"Well, I didn't buy anything but Asami bought a so called attachment for her gun." Korra said and referred to the bastard gun that was hanging on Asami's back that now had a polymer stock on the back of the gun for increased accuracy. Both guys looked at it and nodded. They then noticed that Artyom was heading towards them.

"Alright, are you all finished?" He asked the teens which in turned nodded their heads.

"Good, I have set up a both in the restaurant were we will not be disturbed and were I can answer all your questions." Artyom finished and walked out of the market place with the teen's right behind him. They soon reached the restaurant that was located in one corner of the station that had room enough to have some sort of large restaurant. A waiter stood there waiting for them in a makeshift costume and lead them to a sealed of booth at the back corner of the restaurant. They sat down at the table and the waiter brought a sportive can of water and vodka and a large piece of bread. They each to a slice of the bread until the waiter brought pieces of meat and some vegetables on plates for them to eat. Bolin happily dug in and the others started to eat as well. Artyom poured up some vodka in his glass and leaned back on his chair and took a sip.

"Hey, what is that you are drinking?" Bolin asked while eying the liquid that Artyom was drinking.

"It's called vodka. It was and still is the symbolic drink of our motherland. You want to try it." He said while holding the glass up towards Bolin. Bolin looked at him and took the glass. He looked into it and took a gulp. His eyes went wide and he started to cough hard. Bolin fell from his chair onto the floor.

"Bolin!" Mako yelled while checking on his brother. Both girls went wide eyed at Bolins reaction to the drink and got even more surprised when Artyom started to laugh.

"Ha, I should probably have told you that the drink was very strong." He said while still laughing. Bolin got back up and sat back in his chair.

"You drink that. I had to fight the urge not to cough my guts out." Bolin said between breaths.

"Yeah, I know that feeling. You want another sip?" Artyom asked while taking another sip out of his vodka.

"Of course I want another sip. It tasted really good." Bolin said and took the glass from Artyom and took another sip. He immediately started to cough again and once again fell from his chair. Mako couldn't do anything but face palm for his brother antics. Artyom laughed a little before taking the glass from Bolin and once again leaned back in his chair.

"Alright, we will be left alone for a while so I can now begin answering your questions." Artyom said while taking a sip of his vodka. The teens looked at each other and Korra asked the obvious question.

"What happened to this world?" Artyom took out a cigarette from his pocket and light it up with his bullet shaped lighter and looked the teens in the eyes. Artyom breathed out a large puff of smoke before he started to talk.

"Well, I don't know the full details of how the old world looked like before the war but what I know is that it was far from prefect. Pollution, endangered wildlife, overpopulation was just a few problems the old world had. But still, we accomplished amazing things when we weren't killing each other. We invented amazing machines like aircrafts that could travel across the world in mere hours. Advanced submarines that could dive and explore the deepest corners of the sea. Social networking and media that could allow a person to talk to another person on the other side of the world, no matter where they were located. Another thing that I discovered from an old history book that I found in the great library was that we even put a man on the moon over sixty years ago" Artyom said with a sense of pride. This revelation took the teens by surprise.

"Wait, the moon?" Bolin asked in disbelief.

"Da, with the help of technology we managed to leave our planet and visit our moon. I even read in old document that we had plans to visit the other planets in our solar system until the war put a stop to those plans." Artyom said and took a large inhale of his cigarette and breathed out.

"I don't believe you." Bolin said while taking a large bite out of his meat. Artyom smiled and reached into his back pack. He took out a piece of paper and showed it to the teens. They looked at it and their eyes went wide. It was a photograph and in it they saw a blue and green planet being seen from a grey surface. It was their planet being seen from their moon. Artyom smiled and put the photo away and continued.

"Now about the war, it started around twenty four years ago. I don't know the full details of how the war started but I know it was between two Middle Eastern countries. I don't know which ones but I know that Russia was an ally to one of them and we were forced into the war. Another country called the United States was an ally to the other country and soon our two respective countries found themselves at war with each other. But instead of using infantry, tanks, naval ships to fight the war, both sides instead decided to use nuclear weapons." He said the last thing with a dark tone.

"Nuclear weapons?" Korra asked.

"Da, that explosion that you saw in that vision on the surface was a nuclear detonation. You saw the destruction that was caused by a single one. Now imagine thousands of those bombs explode simultaneously everywhere on the planet. The war lasted only two hours but the effects were devastating. There used to live around seven billion people on this planet. For all we know, the people that live in this metro are the last survivors of the human race on this world; just a few numbers around fifty to seventy thousand. We had contact with other cities for a while like Kiev and St. Petersburg but we soon lost contact with them." Artyom finished with a tone of sadness. The teens couldn't believe what they had just heard, seven billion people dead in a single war that only lasted two hours. They just couldn't believe it. No war in their history had never even been close to that number. Not even the hundred year war was even close. They took the information in but it was hard to do it. Artyom saw that they tried taking the information in and continued.

"I was but one year old when the old world was destroyed. I remember walking through the botanical gardens with my mother when the sirens went off. We raced towards the metro entrance and we were some of the lucky few who managed to get down in time before the great blast doors closed and the bombs fell. Even though we were hundred meters below the surface I could still hear the explosions and feel the shockwaves. It was a nightmare." Artyom said and looked down at his glass. The teens couldn't even believe how terrifying it must have been to be so young and hear the world end.

"I and my mother then lived at Botanichsky Station were we had fled down into before the bombs fell. We lived there for two years in peace until the station was overrun by thousands upon thousands of rats that consumed everything in their path. Almost everyone at the station died." He stopped talking and took a large sip of his vodka.

"My mother was one of them." Artyom said while shedding a single tear that landed in his glass of vodka. The girls gasped and Mako and Bolin understood the pain he must have gone through.

"I was saved by one of the guards from our neighbor station Exhibition. The guards name is Sukhoi but people call him Alex. After the destruction of Botanichsky station and the death of my mother, Alex looked after me. He became like an uncle to me and I love him with my life. He still lives at Exhibition which is my new home and were my family lives as well.

"Your family?" Asami wondered.

"Da, My wife Anna and my two year old son Adrik." Artyom said with a smile.

"You're a dad?" Mako asked. Artyom looked at him.

"You sound surprised." He said while he eyed the firebender.

"Well, it is just that I would take you as a dad." Mako said while trying to make the situation less awkward. Artyom looked at him and then laughed a little. The teens looked at him once again in confusion.

"He he, don't worry. I would probably make the same assumption. Anyway, my story after that is mostly boring until just about four years ago when my home was visited by an old friend." He said before alarms suddenly went off around the station. Bolin almost jumped out of his skin when they started to go off. The others looked around in confusion but Artyom knew what it meant.

"This station is under attack." He said and quickly rose from his seat. He grabbed his backpack and took a hold of his gun and quickly left the restaurant while everyone in the station started to panic. The teens looked at each other and then started to follow Artyom. They ran through the market place and towards the tunnel on the side of the station. They soon reached a barricade where people armed to the teeth stood and aimed into the tunnel. They saw that the Yokol was there as well and he seemed to yell out orders to the guards.

"Make sure that the left flank is covered. We don't want that to fall if we want to survive this." He yelled out before noticing Artyom and the teens running towards him.

"What's the situation, Yokol?" Artyom asked the captain.

"Nosalises, biggest pack I have ever seen. They overran the sentries a few minutes ago and are currently heading for here. Good thing that you are here. We could really use your help in the defense." He said while sweat started to erupt on his fore head.

"Don't worry, they won't get through" Artyom said while raising his rifle.

"Good, I knew I could count on you. We need all the help we can get. How are your two friends with their weapons?" Yokol asked while noticing that both Asami and Bolin were wearing a respective weapon. Artyom turned around and remembered that they had weapons as well.

"Huh, well you see…" Artyom tried to say but was interrupted.

"We need all the help we can get so they can help to." Yokol said and turned around and walked away.

"Shit" Artyom said silently to himself before turning towards the teens.

"Huh, Artyom, what did he mean that we should help?" Bolin asked nervously.

"I don't really know how to use this weapon properly. I haven't even had time to fully learn of to fully reload it yet." Bolin said while trying to weasel his way out if it.

"Well it is time for you to grow a pair so man up and stop whining. As long as you shot into the tunnel and not at us you will be fine. Mako and Korra, you must leave and hide with the rest of the denizens of the station." Artyom ordered the teens.

"I will not just hide." Korra exclaimed to Artyom.

"Trust me missy, you don't want to be around when the shit hits the fan." Yokol said from behind the group.

"But, but…" Korra tried to figure out what to say to convince them otherwise. Artyom said quietly to her.

"Listen Korra, remember that I told you that you couldn't use your bending otherwise these guys rather turn their guns towards you rather than the Nosalises." Artyom said. Korra sighed in defeat; both she and Mako turned around and disappeared back into the station. Artyom turned towards the two remaining teens with him.

"Okay, get into position." Artyom said and ran up to the other guards. Bolin and Asami followed close behind him. They took up position beside Artyom and the other and stood ready while aiming into the tunnel. They stood quiet there while the lights on the walls of the tunnel went off. It was all quiet for a few seconds before a faint rumble could be heard from far into the tunnel.

"Alright boys…and girl. Get ready here they come!" Yokol screamed and aimed down the sight of his AKSU. All the guards took a steady aim into the tunnel. Bolin had a hard time to keep the sight steady on his Kalash 2012 because he was shaking too badly. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around and spotted Artyom looking at him.

"Don't worry, it won't be that bad. Just remember, aim for the head." Artyom said. Bolin turned back towards the tunnel. The guards stood there before a faint sound could be heard.

"Winged Nosalises, cover you hears." A guard yelled and all did as he said. Asami and Bolin barely covered their ears before a giant sonic wave hit them all and they all fell down to the ground. The teens got back up on their feet. They saw Artyom to the same but they noticed that some guards didn't get back up.

"Shit, we got casualties." A random guard yelled out. The teens could see that the dead guards eyes were wide open and blood came out from their noses, mouth and eyes. Both of them had to fight the urge not to throw up. They could now feel the ground shake faintly.

"Here they come." Artyom said and aimed down. Now they all could hear the Nosalises growl from the tunnel. Suddenly one jumped out from the wall from a hole it made and sprinted towards the barricade. A single guard fired his weapon and within seconds the Nosalis fell dead to the ground. Then like a tidal wave hundreds of Nosalises burst from the walls and the tunnel and ran towards the barricade. The gunfire was almost deafening to the teens and the Nosalises fell like flies before they got close. Both Bolin and Asami did their best in trying to repel the giant wave of Nosalises. Artyom didn't kidding when they first met. They did really attack in large groups. Asami noticed some Nosalises climbing on the roof trying to evade the massive gunfire. She raised her rifle to the roofs level and fired away. She hit one Nosalis and it fell down onto the ground dead. Now others joined in and fired onto the roof against the Nosalises climbing up there. Bolin fired away until he ran out of ammo in his magazine. He picked up another one from his pocket and tried switching it with the empty one until a Nosalis had managed to evade the gunfire and leaped on to him.

"Ahhhh!" He screamed at the sudden attack. The Nosalis tried to bite him until it was shot in the back of it head, killing it. Bolin threw the dead Nosalis of him and noticed Artyom standing over him with his hand stretched out to him. Bolin took it and Artyom helped him up.

"Keep your guard up." Artyom ordered before resuming to fire at the large group of attacking Nosalises. Bolin nodded while panting hard and finally managed to reload his magazine. He also noticed that he would need a new pair of pants when this was over. The group of humans stood their ground against the horde. Every minute a Nosalis managed to break the wall of gunfire and attacked a guard and it wasn't always that they managed to get it off in time. Finally the horde started to disperse.

"They are thinning out. Keep it up." Yokol screamed while continuing with firing at the horde. The battle went on for a little while before the horde of Nosalises became nothing more of a few Nosalises trying their luck. Finally it seemed like the horde had finally let up and was retreating.

"They're retreating." One guard yelled out and soon all the other guards joined in in his cheering. The teens let out a sigh that they didn't notice until now that they had been keeping in. Artyom lowered his rifle and turned towards the teens.

"That was close." Artyom said while putting a new magazine into his weapon.

"You guys did better than I expected, Good job. I was fairly sure that at least one of you was going to die." Artyom said with a smirk.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Bolin said while being highly uncomfortable in his wet pants. Artyom laughed at Bolins accident and Asami couldn't help but giggle a little as well. Bolin looked at his so called friends with hateful eyes.

"Guys, it's not funny." Bolin whined. Artyom managed to stop laughing and looked at Bolin.

"Don't worry. Here, take a spare pair of pants." He said and threw him a pair of pants that he had taken out of his backpack. Bolin gladly took them and he then walked behind a pair of sandbags to change. Both Artyom and Asami turned around and saw Mako and Korra running towards the two of them.

"Are you alright?" Mako asked his girlfriend with a concern tone.

"I'm fine" Asami said with a smile. Then out of nowhere a Nosalis jumped down from the rood and grabbed a hold of Asami. She didn't even have time to gasp before the Nosalis was running away with her foot clenched between its jaws while she was being dragged along the ground. She dropped her weapon in the progress. The other guards were about to open fire until Mako spoke up.

"Don't shot. You may hit Asami." He screamed at them.

"Then it would be mercy killing." Yokol said and fired away. The bullets flew towards the Nosalis and Asami but missed them and they both disappeared into the tunnel. Artyom ran up to the guard captain and hit him straight in the face. Yokol was unprepared for such an attack and fell down on his back.

"What are you doing? He said that you could hit her." Artyom said. Yokol clenched his aching jaw before speaking.

"She is already dead. There is nothing we could do." Yokol said in his defense.

"You be surprise in what these teens can do. Come on, we'll go after her." Artyom said and raised his rifle. Korra and Mako nodded and followed him into the tunnel.

"Are you coming Bolin?" Mako asked his brother.

"I'm coming." Bolin said while jumping towards the group while trying to close the zipper of the pants. The guards looked at them like they were crazy but Yokol had faint in his friend.

"Good luck in the tunnel ranger but be warned. These tunnels harbors more freaks than just Nosalises." Yokol yelled at them. The teens looked on to him in confusion before turning towards Artyom.

"What did he mean by that, more ghost?" Korra asked.

"No, worse." Artyom said without turning towards them.

"Bandits"

* * *

Asami was fighting for her life. The Nosalis had let her go a couple of moments before and was trying to eat her at the moment. She barely avoided its attacks while trying to figure out what to do. She had lost her weapon back at the barricade so she had nothing to attack it with. She had tried to hit it with her fist but its skin was just too hard. Her left foot wasn't helping either. The Nosalises teeth had dug in deep and blood was streaming out of it. Avoided another attack from the Nosalis but she slipped and fell on the ground. She tried to get up but one of the Nosalis giant paws pushed her back down. It raised its claws ready to deliver the final strike. Asami closed her eyes waiting for the claws until she heard a gunshot. She felt a large mass fall down on her and she opened her eyes. The Nosalis was lying dead on her. She pushed with all her might and managed to push it of her. She looked around for her savior and noticed a couple of random men standing there looking down on her.

"Well look what we got here, some nice looking meat." One of the men said with a toothy smile while the others laughed. Asami had a bad feeling that these were not the rescuers she had in mind.


	7. Chapter 7 Darkness around

Chapter 7 – Darkness around

In the tunnels between Belorusskaya and the station of Novoslobodskaya, Artyom and company had been following the Nosalis that took Asami. They noticed blood on the ground and they soon understood that they had to hurry or it would be too late. So far the tunnel has been quiet. Only a couple of lurkers have been seen but as soon as they saw the group they dispersed into the many holes that littered the tunnel.

"Come one, pick up the paste." Artyom yelled out to his companions. The teens tried their best to keep up with the ranger who was surprisingly fast.

"Can…we…please…rest…for…a….minute?" Bolin said between breaths. He wasn't the only one who has gotten tired, both Mako and Korra was starting to feel the burn as well.

"Were do you get your stamina from?" Korra said while sprinting after the ranger.

"You got to have good stamina or otherwise you're food for most denizens of the metro." Was Artyoms answer to the question and Korra could understand that. They continued their path through the tunnel until they stopped dead in their tracks. The reason why, the tunnel was splitting up.

"Oh no." Mako said while eying the two tunnels in front of them.

"Which one should we take?" Artyom was eyeing both tunnels trying to figure out which one the Nosalis took. He walked to the right tunnel and checked the ground for signs. He looked closely on the ground. He noticed something in the dirt. A faint but noticeable blood stain, human blood, fresh, Asamis.

"This way." He said while getting up from the ground. He walked into the tunnel to the right while the others looked at him.

"How do you know that?" Mako asked the ranger. Artyom did not answer and just pointed at the small blood stain on the ground. They gasped when they saw it and just nodded and followed him. They continued forward through the tunnel. The tunnel was worn down with rusty pipes hanging on the side on the walls. One or two skeletons of humans were on the ground and the teens let out a sigh of relief every time they understood that the bones did not belong to their friend. They continued forward until they saw in the distance a large mass laying on the ground. Artyom understood immediately what the thing was. It was a Nosalis but it wasn't moving. He walked up to it and stared down on it. It was laying on its belly so he couldn't see its face but he could see why it wasn't moving. A bullet right through the back of its neck. He looked around and didn't see Asami anywhere. She must have escaped, but how he wondered. The others walked up to him and looked down on the body of the dead beast. Mako frequently looked around.

"Were is Asami?" He said in a worried tone.

"She is not here." Artyom Answered.

"The question is how? I saw her drop her gun back at the station and there isn't any bodies around here so she couldn't have picked a new one up. And if she did it she would have walked towards the station and not away from it. She must have had help. And not that help that would let her go afterwards." He finished and noticed something on the ground. He bended down and picked up an empty bullet cartridge.

"She got help but from who?" He said. Korra walked up to the ranger.

"Any idea who?" Artyom looked like he was in deep thought.

"Belorusskaya haven't sent out any teams in this direction and there haven't been any reports of any Nazi squads here and the reds doesn't come this close to the outer rim. That only leaves one group left, bandits."

"So big deal, we can handle a few bad guys." Bolin said a calm tone.

"That is armed to the teeth with guns and has the intention to kill you as painfully as possible." Artyom added. Bolin eyes went wide immediately.

"Okay, maybe they could be a problem." Bolin said and covered from everyone's gazes towards him. Artyom shock his head and looked down at the ground once more. He noticed something else and smiled. He bended down and picked something else up.

"One thing is for sure, she didn't go down without a fight." Artyom said while holding a bloody human tooth in his fingers.

* * *

"Ow, ow, ow, ow." One of the bandits said while holding his mouth with his right hand. Said mouth missing one tooth.

"Shut up, at least she didn't kick you right in the nuts." Another bandit said while holding a bag of ice on his crotch.

"Why don't we kill this bitch and be done with it?" Another said while holding his left eye with his hand. The three bandits were sitting around a campfire in a maintenance station located in the tunnel.

"Because the boss wants to ransom the girl for a large sum of bullets. Did you see the clothes she was wearing? That was some fancy stuff. Must have cost a fortune of bullets to buy and fix it. She must come from a rich family down here in the metro." The second bandit said while still holding the bag of ice over his crotch.

"So that's why they helped fix her leg." The third bandit said. The second bandit nodded and looked back into the fire. They sat quiet for a few moments until they heard noises from the room next to them. Two bandits came out holding a struggling Asami in their grip.

"Let me go!" She said in a threatening tone while trying to get out of the bandits iron grip.

"So you want to play tuff, huh?" One of the bandits holding Asami said while walking through another door into a large room with pillars on the sides. In the middle of the room on the floor there seemed to be some bars that covered a hole. They stopped right in front of it and one bandit let go of Asami while the other held her tight with both his hands. The first bandit raised the bars and under them was a hole that went down for about three meters down into a small room.

"If you insist on being so uncooperative towards us. Maybe a few days in the hole might teach you a lesson." The bandit that was holding Asami said and pushed her into the hole. She screamed on her way down and landed hard on her back. She grimaced because of the pain and looked up and saw the two bandits looking down on her and laughing.

"Don't you worry; we will bring you some food…if we remember to." One bandit said and both starting laughing hard before closing the iron bars and started to walk away. Asami took in her new surroundings and gasped. Dozens of skeletons were littered across the small room. She looked at the walls and saw no way out by climbing. She sat down on the ground in a corner of the small room and grabbed her legs and pressed them close to her. What was she going to do? She had been captured by bandits and she saw no way out. It all happened so fast back in the tunnel. She found herself under the dead Nosalis while these guys looked down on her. They pulled it off her and tried to grab her. Even with her limited ability to move thanks to her wounded leg she managed to put up a fight and knocked down three of them before the pain became too big and it distracted her long enough for them to capture her. They bandaged the leg with some bandages because they said that she would be more valuable to them alive then dead. These guys didn't seem to be much different from bandits from her world; they were just armed with different technology for example guns. They were armed to the teeth with all kinds of weapons. Some she recognized like the Lolife and the Bastard gun but some were a couple of guns she hadn't seen yet. One of the bandits held a gun that was very long and very thing in the end and it seemed to have the magazine on the side of itself. Another one held a gun that looked like the Kalash but shorter and had a different stock then the original.

When she was dragged here by the bandits she counted the numbers to see if she could make a run for it. So far the numbers weren't in her favor. She counted around twenty bandits in the station and according to some dialogues amongst them a couple of them seemed to be out on patrol. There appeared to be two in the large room above her and they seemed to focus on something they called a "card game" whatever that meant. She could just hope that her friends were on their way to help her. She was about to think on something else when she heard a small squeak sound next to her. She looked down and saw something that looked like a spiderrat but more…raty. It sniffed around before looking up at her and squeaked in fright and ran behind some skeletons that were lying in the corner of the room. She looked at were rat had ran off to and it seemed to just have disappeared. She looked behind the skeleton and saw a small hole in the wall. She didn't notice that at first because of the tattered clothes on the skeleton covered it up. She moved the skeleton carefully and silently to not wake any attention from the bandits. When it was out of the way she discovered a small hole in the wall. She bended down and looked through the hole. There appeared to be a tunnel on the other side of the wall. She grabbed a hold of the old concrete and pulled with all her strength, trying to make the hole bigger. It didn't take much effort to rip it apart. The wall was thin and that it had been standing here for twenty years without maintenance didn't help. When she ripped another piece of a large chunk fell on the floor with a loud thump.

"Hey, what was that?" She could suddenly hear above her on the other side of the bars. One of the bandits herd her. She cursed quietly to herself and hoped for the best.

"Heh, probably nothing, the tunnels make noises all the time. Let's continue our game shall we." Another voice was heard.

"Sure, so? Do you have any threes?" She heard the first voice say.

"Njet, go fish." The second voice said. She let out a sight that she had held in and continued with tearing down the wall as quietly as she could. Within a minute there was now a hole big enough for her to crawl through. She went on all four and started to crawl through the narrow tunnel. It was filled with webs and filth and she had to fight the urge not to throw up her dinner. She crawled through the tunnel until she came upon the exit. She exited the tunnel and found herself suddenly in a completely different environment. It appeared to be another room in the station but it was small and filled with radio equipment and rows of lockers. She walked past a few lockers to the door and opened it slowly. She gazed through the small crack in the door frame and took in the layout of the next room. It was a three way room and she noticed a single guard sitting on a chair with his back turned towards her, facing the third way out. He appeared to be sleeping which gave her a chance to sneak past him to the other side of the room. She opened the door carefully and started to walk on her toes past him. She was behind him when she made the biggest newbie mistake one could ever make. She didn't look where she was putting her feet's and ended up stepping on a piece of glass. A loud crack was heard and the bandits stirred. He groggily opened his eyes, yawned and stretched his arms. Asami looked franticly around trying to find a place to hide. The bandit looked behind him and saw nothing. He could have sworn he felt like someone was watching him. He looked around before finally settling that was no one there. He closed his eyes and went back to sleep. Asami came out of her hiding place behind an old locker, perfectly out of sight of the bandit. She continued out of the room in silence and closed the door behind her. She found herself now in a thin tunnel but still she had no idea where she was going. She rounded a corner and found herself in a large train tunnel. Finally she was getting somewhere. She was about to start running into the tunnel when suddenly.

"Hey you, stop." She heard behind her and saw the same bandit she thought was sleeping back in the room aiming his gun at her. She raised her hands and let out a defeated sight.

"Thought you could escape huh? Pretending to be asleep always work." The bandit said with a grin while he moved closer to her, still aiming his gun at her. Asami then thought of a plan, she could take him easily if she removed that gun from him. Asami waited for the perfect moment and when the bandit was close enough she jumped him. He let out a spray of bullets at her but he missed. Asami managed to kick the gun out of his hands. She tried to deliver another kick to his head but he surprisingly dodged it. The bandit tried to deliver a punch at Asami but she blocked it. She then went to punch him instead but he jumped out of the way. She was surprised at the agility of this bandit.

"You thought that I was just some random bandit that you could take out easily. Before the war I was a special ops soldier in the army. You won't take me down that easy." He said and positioned himself in a fighting stance. They looked into each's eyes before the bandit went on the attack. He delivered a punch towards her stomach but she jumped out of the way and hit him in the back. He staggered a few feet's before turning towards her and delivered a kick on her damaged leg which made her scream in pain and grasp the damaged leg. The bandit then attempted to deliver a roundhouse kick towards her head but she managed to narrowly dodge it. Asami got back on her feet and delivered a strong kick in his stomach. He grimaced and looked at her with hateful eyes.

"Enough of these games." He said and pulled out a large knife from its sheet. He started to swing at her and she narrowly avoided being cut in two. The bandit then jumped her and pinned her down on the ground. He tried to deliver the final blow with the knife but Asami managed to catch his arms and tried to hold against his strength. The knife was coming closer to her face and the bandits smiled wickedly at her. Asami though it was over until she noticed a rock lying close to her. She let go with one of her hands and quickly grabbed the rock. Before the bandit could overpower her she smacked him right in the head with the rock as hard as she could. Blood sprayed from the bandits head and he fell limp on the ground. Asami quickly got up before taking in what she just did. She looked down at the now dead bandit with blood pouring out of his head covering the ground and then at the hand that held the rock, now covered in blood as well.

"I killed him." She said quietly to herself. She had never killed anyone before. She had been in fights for sure but she never had to kill anyone. She stood there in shock until she heard on the other side of the door that she and the bandit had come through.

"The gunshots were heard over here, quickly." She quickly gathered herself and locked into the tunnel. She picked up the bandits gun that happened to be a Kalash and as many clips she could carry in her pockets from the dead bandit before starting to run into the tunnel. The rest of the bandit gang burst through the door and looked at the scene. They saw their dead comrade and Asami running away in the tunnel.

"She killed Dmitry. Forget about the bullets. Kill the bitch." One of the bandits yelled and the others nodded. Before Asami could think another though bullets started to fly around her. She was lucky that they were carrying Bastards guns; they missed every shot at her.

"Cease fire." One bandit suddenly said. The others complied but one argued.

"But boss, she's getting away." The leader just looked at him with a tired glance and said.

"She will die anyway in that tunnel." Before turning towards the doorframe and walked through it. The other bandits looked at each other before realizing what tunnel Asami ran into. They started to grin before following their leader through the doorframe with the last one through saying to hemself.

"Soups on fellas." Before closing the door behind him.

* * *

Asami continued to sprint through the tunnel before she was sure that she was on a safe distance away from the station. She slowed down and locked backwards. She was surprised that the bandits decided not to follow her. She could think about that later when she was back with her friends. The tunnel she was walking through was unusually darker than the other tunnels. While some had still lights glowing this tunnel was completely dark. She had a tough time seeing were she was putting her feet's for the most part. She continued forwards through the tunnel when she suddenly heard a strange noise behind her. She quickly turned around and aimed her gun towards the direction of the sound, nothing there. She suddenly heard the same noise again behind her and quickly turned around and looked. Once again, nothing there. She lowered her rifle and continued through the tunnel. She soon came across a train car that stood right in the middle of the tunnel. She walked past it but noticed some boxes inside. She thought it wouldn't hurt to take a look. She found one door open and climbed inside. Once inside she noticed an oil lamp in one of the seats and she flicked it on. She gasped at what she saw inside. The floor was littered with skeletons. All the skeletons missed their clothes so they must have been lying there for a long time. She swallowed the bile that had been build up in her throat and looked around the train car for anything useful. She walked to one of the boxes and flipped it open, empty. The walked to the next and found the same thing, empty.

She sighed and found that there was nothing of use here. She then noticed in the end of the train car a skeleton with tattered clothes and something in his hands. She walked up to the skeleton and saw that he was holding a duplet shotgun. She hung her rifle on her back and bended down and took it from the skeleton hands. She opened it up and noticed that it was fully loaded and she smiled. This would probably come in handy in the future she thought to herself. She took some shotgun shells from the dead skeleton and picked up the oil lamp and then exited the train car and continued through the tunnel once again. With the oil lamp she could now see better were she was going. She continued walking until she heard that strange noise again but this time better. It sounded like something crawling. She picked up the paste and started to jog instead. She heard more of the sound behind her and quickly turned around and showed the light from the oil lamp in the direction of the sound. She didn't see anything but she could have sworn she noticed something crawled away from the light before it touched it. She stood there looking into the darkness but now it was completely silent. She gulped hard and turned around and started to walk again. As soon as she had turned around the sound behind her started again, she continued onwards as usual but she listened closely behind her. The sound got closer and then as fast as lighting she suddenly turned around.

She gasped at what she saw. A large yellow insectoid creature stood there hissing at her before running backwards out of her sight, its hide having turned a little red. She stood there frozen in fear and could suddenly hear more of the hissing and crawling sound coming from the walls. There must be dozens of them because of all the sound. She started to run through the tunnel while she could hear the weird creatures starting to run after her. She continued onwards when she saw a light. She hoped for the best and picked up the paste as fast as she could. Her hopes were left unanswered when she saw that it was just a hole in the roof and light of the day coming down. She slowed down when she had entered the light and tried to catch her breath. She could hear the creature coming up and though this was it. She raised the shotgun and aimed into the darkness, determent not to go down without a fight. To her surprise however the creatures stopped right before the light. She saw at least a dozen of them standing just outside of the light hissing at her before running of and once again out of sight.

She stood there dumbstruck wondering what was with them when suddenly a though struck her. Maybe they hated light. Now when she thought about it, they had so far avoided the light as best they could and when the light flashed on one of them its hide seemed to be burning. They must be very sensitive towards light. She saw this as her way past them and left the comfort of the light from the hole in the roof. She had the oil lamp close up in front of her and made sure to cover all sides. She could hear the creatures following her but they kept their distance, waiting for the right moment to strike. She soon was faced with a dilemma, the tunnel had caved in. She looked for a way around and noticed a metal door on the side.

"How convenient." She said to herself and walked up to the door and slowly opened it. Once the door was fully opened she saw another problem in her way. The room was filled with cobwebs. She looked around and noticed a torch on the wall.

"Once again, how convenient." She said again to herself and took away the glass cover on the oil lamp and lit up the torch. The room was soon filled with light from the torch. She put down the oil lamp on the ground and grabbed the torch of the wall and held it out forward her. All the cobwebs soon started to burn and a clear way was shown to her. She saw a door on the other side of the room and walked up to it and opened it. Another room filled with cobwebs. This was starting to get annoying. She once again but the torch in front of her and let the fire do its job. As soon as all the cobwebs were gone and another clear path had been made she walked through the room to the door on the other side. She carefully opened the door and looked into the next room. The room was cleared from any cobwebs so she entered it without any problems. She was about halfway through the room when a strange sound was heard above her. Then out of nowhere one of those insect creatures jumped down and attacked her. It knocked both the torch and the shotgun out of her hands and leaped at her. Asami was taken completely by surprise and didn't have time too fully defend herself. Before she knew it she was pinned down on the ground under the strange insect. It hissed and tried to gnaw at her while she held its mouth away with both her hands. Drool dropped from the insects mouth down onto Asamis face. She pushed with all her might and managed to push back the creature a little. It still trying to bite her face of and pushing at her with all its might. She then made a quick shove and the creature was flung of her. She quickly got on her feet and went to grab her gun. She grabbed it and quickly aimed at the incoming insect. She fired both shots simultaneously at the insect. A large bang was heard but to Asami great surprise the creature was unarmed. It had flinched a little but the shots had just bunched of. Her eyes widen when the creature let out a hiss of anger before charging at her again. She tried to reload the shotgun but the creature was on her again before she even had opened the gun up. She once again found herself struggling for her life against the creature's strength but this time, she didn't have the energy to push it off her. The creature's mouth came closer and closer to her face. She was ready to face her inevitably end until the door on her left was thrown open and a bright light shined at both of them from their side. The creature hide turned a burning red while it hissed in pain. It tried to escape the light but the pain was too great for it. It flipped belly up and threw its legs all around before coming to a complete still. Asami got to her feet and just stood there in shock before the light shined her right in the eyes.

"Alright missy, what is a pretty lady like you doing all the way out here and don't give me any bullshit or what not?" A dark gravelly voice could be heard. Asami covered her eyes from the light and could barely make out the shape of her savior. The owner of the light shut it off and the only light in the room came from the torch in the corner. Asami could now make out how the owner to the light looked like. It was clearly a man around his forties with a stone cold face expression. He wore a dark brown jacket with a light brown backpack on his back and blue jeans, a black beanie with a flash light adored his head. He held a Kalash that was currently aimed at her. She tensed up at it but the man laughed at her reaction.

"Don't worry, unless you give me a reason I won't use it against you." The man said. Asami still looked unsure but if this man wanted her dead he could have just let her perish by the creature. More sound was suddenly heard with was undoubtedly more of those creatures. The man looked around before looking at her again.

"We need to get out of here before more of them decide to show up. Spiderbugs never hunt alone. You can tell me your story later." He said and walked towards the door he had come through.

"By the way, I never got you name missy." He asked while turning towards her. Asami tensed up again but decided to tell the stranger her name.

"Asami, Asami Sato. So you can stop calling me missy. And what is your name?" She asked the stranger. The stranger looked at her and gave her a smug smile. He extended his right arm to her implying that he would like to shake her hand. Asami hesitated at first but she took and shock his hand.

"The name is Bourbon." The man said.


End file.
